I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS .t 

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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



PRACTICAL RELIGION 



Practical Religion, 



BY 



FELIX SOLOMON 






wc-4&c/.c«- 



n 



A STILL, SMALL VOICE. 



A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. 




BALTIMORE: 

FELIX SOLOMON, AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER, 

P. O. BOX 492. 

1875. 





.1* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, in the Office of the 
Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



AUTHOR'S NOTE. 



The want of a practical, personal and experimental inward 
religion has long been everywhere confessed by observing and 
unbiased men, and as far as the want can be supplied by infor- 
mation from the pen of experience, so far may this little work 
demand the consideration of persons religiously disposed. 
Its simple disclosures of truth may also give opponents matter 
for brief reflection amid their constant declamations, and if not 
productive of conviction, will necessarily incite a more zealous 
opposition than is shown toward existing semblances of re- 
ligion. 

Most of the subjects are treated in such a partial manner 
as allies them to the experiences met with in beginning a life 
of practical inward religion, interspersed with the explanations 
and refutations that seem necessary for the information of the 
ignorant and the opposed. In lauding conscience, or the spirit 
of God in man, a sufficient foundation is recognized to base the 
whole system of religion upon ; but, with slight exceptions, no 
attempt is made to trace existing connections, as in so doing 
the work would better suit the studious tastes of religious 
philosophers, were it ably demonstrated, than an adaptation 
to simple minds craving an experience in the virtues and bless- 
ings of truth. 

FELIX SOLOMON. 

c 

November, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 

♦ 

PAGE. 

1. A Basis for Religion, 9 

2. Conscience, 13 

3. The Formation of Love, 20 

4. Prayer, . ♦ 23 

5. Watching, 29 

6. Faith and Works, . ■ 31 

7. Quietude or Passiveness, 33 

8. Goodness in Man, 36 

9. Investigating the Things of God, 39 

10. The Cheerfulness of Religion, 43 

11. The Fear of Death 46 

12. The Will, 49 

13. The Human Reason, 53 

14. A Time for All Things 55 

15. The Bihle, 58 

16. Monks, Mennonites, Shakers. Dunkers, and Peculiar People, . 62 

17. The Failures of Reformers. 66 

18. Thomas a Kempis, 67 

19. Learning of Jesus, . 68 

20. A Literal Interpretation of the Scriptures, .... 72 

21. Beginning a Religious Life, 75 

22. Example and Dialogue, 77 

23. Supposed Unreasonableness Explained, .... 85 

24. Jesus and Kis Love, 87 

25. What to Do, 88 

26. Relinquishing Honorable Pursuits, 90 

27. _ Fasting, 92 

28. Solitude, 94 

29. Temptation, 96 



A BASIS FOR RELIGION. 



Practical religion has been based by pious writers 
upon various observations or forms of doctrine, none of 
which it is necessary to dispute, and any of which are 
more or less appropriate, if considered as connected with 
the First Great Cause. 

In choosing an observation for this work, to which 
all the following Christian obligations may properly be 
allied, the writer has preferred to accept the term " con- 
science," that the many who are interested in, but who 
are indolently or visionarily inclined toward religion, 
may be directed to that which is wholly practical, easily 
understood, and near at hand. The relation sustained 
by conscience to the various duties of religious life, will 
not be definitely traced throughout, as it would tend to 
make them more a matter of study than of practice. 
While understanding conscience to underlie all, the 
duties are explained in such a general manner as ex- 
perimental writers and readers are accustomed to and 
most likely to be benefitted by. 

While obedience to conscience, or the Spirit of God 
in man, is one attribute of religion, it is equally a re- 
ligion of love, a religion of inward prayer, a religion of 
watchfulness, a religion of faith, a religion of works, and 
a religion of quietude or passiveness. These, and manv 
other attributes, render religion a very extensive sys- 
tem ; and the errors of many of its reformers have been 



10 A BASIS FOR RELIGION. 

in unwisely and selfishly accepting one or more of its 
attributes to the exclusion of others. As our bodies are 
composed of various members, each having duties to 
perform more or less agreeable, so it is with religion, 
whose offices are sometimes not agreeable, but cannot 
be disallowed without disannulling the whole system. 

There is less in the name which we adopt in religion, 
than in the sincerity with which we follow whatever 
may appear as the highest truth. There have un- 
doubtedly been many good Christian characters formed 
upon a basis of love, or of prayer, or of watchfulness, or 
of faith, or of works, or of quietude ; and, knowing such 
to be the case, it is much more laudable in beginners to 
strictly adhere to a practice of their revelations or 
views of truth, and leave comparisons and contentions 
until they reach that clear atmosphere of sanctifi cation 
and wisdom which will enable them to wisely and un- 
selfishly consider all things. Thus, under whatever 
dispensation we may be, sincerity, attention to existing 
duties, and willingness to be endued with additional 
truth, will, however unfavorably situated and errone- 
ously impressed in the mere outward acceptation of 
forms or names, sooner or later crown us with the abili- 
ties of a clear discernment. 

Jesus commanded men to make clean first the inside 
of the cup and saucer, and the outside would be clean 
of itself. But this humble duty is obnoxious to their 
pride, and in disdaining it they accept the labor of 
learning all they can mentally of the truth, and debar 
themselves from its inborn realization. Ignoring a 
trust or faith strictly dependent on God through all the 
narrow ways of his leading, they would prefer to have 



A BASIS FOR RELIGION. 11 

a thorough understanding of the whole system ere it is 
begun, unwilling to begin in the rudiments, and let love, 
labor and knowledge grow together. In affairs solely- 
secular, the fruitless results of a similar plan are ap- 
parent. By the aid of books and trivial experiments, 
an understanding is sought of occupations wherein noth- 
ing but practical efforts will avail ; the applications of a 
book- taught farmer or mechanic are ludicrous, while 
those who begin on the dung-hill or at the work-bench 
use themselves to advantage. There is a universal law, 
applicable alike to things temporal and eternal, that a 
proper knowledge and possession comes gradually 
through the active exercise of all the faculties with 
which we are endowed ; hence solely memorized know- 
ledge is to be condemned. 

While simple minds have advanced in religious life, 
making a beginning under one or another more or less 
appropriate forms of doctrine, an exception must be 
taken to those cases wherein reason is advocated as a 
guide. Such, who are generally wise in their own 
opinion, never so much as begin any practical steps : it 
seems as if the very term carries with it all that is op- 
posed to the simplicity of the principles of Christianity. 
This maybe owing to the fact that its advocates are the 
matured and thoughtful men of the world, who, having 
been trained under its influence in the knowledge of the 
world, think, by an application of the same, to obtain 
an inheritance in the kingdom and wisdom from above. 
Reasoning at every step, they yet mistake the way ; and 
very necessary it is for them to become as little children, 
submissive to the dictates of an All- wise Parent. In- 
stead of taking an experimental hold of religion, they 



12 A BASIS FOR KELIGIOtf. 

plunge immediately, with knowledge and self-righteous- 
ness, into such arguments and exertions as may tend to 
shear it of all those attributes which make it odious to 
the natural desires of evil men. Many professed 
teachers of religion are also among this class, who are 
wolves in sheep's skins ; and while disinclined to enter 
the kingdom of purity themselves, throw their de- 
ceptive reasoning obstacles in the way of those who 
would. 

Notwithstanding all false efforts of men, none of them 
can lay any other foundation than that which is already 
laid, and is indeed the sub-foundation of all — the 
Rock of Ages, upon which to build virtue, happiness 
and eternal life. This is the rock, though called by va- 
rious names, which is the same, considered in itself, 
yesterday, to-day and forever — the record of whose 
strength we have in the past, the visible proof of whose 
power we have in the present, and the foundation on 
which the beacon of hope cheers us for the future. 



CONSCIENCE. 



There is in man that which is called by a variety of 
names, such as the word, or power, or spirit of God, or 
spirit, or light of Christ ; any of these, or other names 
by which it is known, may be equally appropriate and 
true, but for general use it can be resolved into the 
simple term Conscience. If any think this term de- 
rogatory to the above terms, and implies something 
more human in its character, and would therefore be 
inappropriately used in a similar connection, they can 
be asked to refer to the generally acknowledged simi- 
larity of the work attributed to it with that of the 
others, and they will perhaps be satisfied with its use. 

Conscience is a power within man that encourages all 
good and denounces all evil ; it can be considered an 
emanation from or a part of God, or in other words, a 
part of the concentrated essence, or a part of the con- 
centrated virtue of all things. A wise man has said, 
" Thy (God's) incorruptible spirit is in all things " : this 
being so, "the spirit bears witness," or blends harmo- 
niously with itself in all things, however different may 
be the nature of those things and the proportion of the 
spirit they contain. Man having his more special share 
in the form of conscience, and having to live among 
and deal with his fellow-men and surrounding objects, 
all of which have their due share of the same spirit, 
finds continual occasion to act in conjunction with or in 



14 CONSCIENCE. 

opposition to the approval of this spirit or conscience, 
both as considered in regard to himself and to outside 
persons or things ; but, as in other things, outside of 
evil men, the spirit of good predominates, compara- 
tively speaking, it shows a preponderance toward good 
all around, that should make the acceptance of good 
more easy than refusing it. In a Scriptural phrase, re- 
lating to Eden, man "dresses and keeps" the garden 
within and around him by acting in conjunction with 
conscience ; but in opposing it he obtains a knowledge 
of evil, which, supposing him pure like Adam before 
the fall, he did not before possess ; he consequently 
thereafter possesses the unenviable and double "know- 
ledge of good and evil." 

Man having a share of the primeval, godlike, spir- 
itual and eternal principle within him, does, in not al- 
lowing it to direct his life, resign all claim to it, and 
lives his bodily, sensuous life in little better manner 
than the brute, and is censurable in consideration of 
what he neglects, while te brute, in fulfilling all the 
conditions of its birth, is not. Thus it is said that the 
wicked are dead while they live, and of course are no 
better fitted than the brute for the realization of a 
future life, insomuch as they neglected being re-born 
and nurtured in the principles that sustain it. Thus, 
dying like the brute, they might be expected to share 
its eternal fate or nonentity ; but then follows a requi- 
sition for the use of those higher talents committed to 
their trust ; and the lack of their possession with in- 
crease, creates a void that is filled by misery and re- 
morse, with nothing to divert the attention like business 
and pleasure in earthly life ; the sensibility is continu- 



CONSCIENCE. 15 

ally subject to its tormentors, and whether the location 
be in the regions of air or the bowels of the earth, the 
hell is the same. 

Every man born into the world possesses a greater or 
less share of this spirit or conscience, no matter whether 
he be heathen or civilized ; in this sense " God is no re- 
specter of persons," and all men stand equal before 
him. In Jesus all fulness resided ; " God gave the 
spirit without measure unto him," and in his person 
God once vouchsafed to grace with his presence entire 
this trivial portion of his creation — other sheep he has 
which are not of this fold. 

As all men, heathen and civilized, have sought out 
many inventions in the form of religions and occupa- 
tions, they allow these to stifle the true teachings of 
their inward monitor ; and the very power that would 
guide them all alike into all truth, receives a check at 
the beginning of life and diminishes as life progresses. 
It has been argued by some that conscience is but a 
principle that bases its decisions upon the knowledge 
imbibed from education and surroundings, as acts of 
murder, which the civilized look upon as repugnant to 
conscience, the savage or heathen murderer or sacrificer 
would consider innocent and praiseworthy. Now the 
truth is that instead of true conscience being influenced 
by the various teachings and surroundings of men, it is 
stifled by them ; and while the civilized deplore the 
hard-hearted actions of the heathen, they may be com- 
mitting actions equally as censurable in the sight of 
Him who " seeth not as man seeth," though garbed to 
themselves, like the heathen's actions to him, under 
some local or nationally accepted praiseworthy motive. 



16 CONSCIENCE. 

Thus every individual, of whatever nation, has within 
him a guide to the good, and influences among men 
drawing to the bad. 

Conscience is too superior and independent to need 
support from the affairs of man ; it willingly presides 
over them, but rather than be subject, will passively 
retire within itself, allow its decisions to be disregarded, 
and sorrowfully behold the sad endings of its rejectors. 
The Apostle Paul in vindicating something, appealed to 
conscience as the highest authority, and said, " my con- 
science also bears me witness in the Holy Ghost ; " the 
latter being an unusual and superior gift from above, 
conscience is thus honored with a connection indicating 
its value and influence. 

Conscience must be an original and distinct faculty 
or principle of our nature, and it is well proven to be so 
by the novice, who finds it dictating and approving of 
things at which, all other faculties revolt : for example, 
conscience will approve of the humility and self-abne- 
gation shown in turning the other cheek to the smiter, 
while the other faculties, marshalled under reason, will 
revolt at such an affair, and catering to the pride of 
man, will have no regard for that abasement which pre- 
cedes exaltation, or that humility which goes before 
honor. When conscience has subdued and sanctified 
reason by a total indifference for it at first and a 
gradual introduction and trial, it may begin to exercise 
itself in conformity to the lessons it has learned ; and 
conscience, though less a task-master, will still be its 
alma-mater, whose early training it will with reverence 
acknowledge. Reason and conscience may then be con- 
sidered as acting conjointly for the same goal, being 



CONSCIENCE. 17 

blended together in a oneness of object and action ; and 
those who have disputed classing conscience as an 
original and distinct faculty, but as a general perambu- 
lator, and those who advance reason as a producer of 
wisdom, can at this period, when they thus happily and 
beneficially mingle together for the common good, find 
conscience in the sphere they assigned it, and reason 
engaged in all the flattering work they desired for it. 
Thus practical religion will at one period or another re- 
alise all things ; and it remains for men to experience a 
time for all things, and know that all things and all 
times are under the all- wise disposal of God. 

Besides civilized nations, most every heathen nation 
has one or another forms of paying homage to a great 
spirit, and it proves conclusively that there is implanted 
in all flesh a root from which these universal tendencies 
spring ; but the heathen with his idol and the Christian 
with his theology both pervert the practical homage of 
obedience that should be paid to the spirit within them 
and around them, and which, if paid, would do the 
whole work of banishing crime and promoting wisdom 
and happiness among men. Theology, as founded upon 
studious research, while its aspirant is deficient in the 
practical obligation of obedience, redounds less to his 
eternal credit than if he entirely neglected its pursuit. 
Theology, considered as a science, and investigated by 
persons properly prepared, is, indeed, one of the high and 
laudable attainments of wisdom ; but as counterfeiters 
dabble in it, the name and its supporters have become 
odious to a vast majority of common-sense persons. 

It is not necessary that conscience should be uniform 
either as regards the time or manner of its decisions, as 



18 CONSCIENCE. 

every individual possesses a different organization and 
surroundings ; hence, in its operations, the greatest lati- 
tude is necessary and allowable, without conflicting with 
the universal harmony it seeks to establish in its pro- 
gress and its end. As the wind does not blow every 
tree with the same force and at the same time, even so 
it is with conscience. 

Conscience, as before stated, being derived from all 
things, seeks the welfare of all ; and meeting its coun- 
terpart at every turn in the life-giving principle perva- 
ding nature and humanity, is an ever-ready and reliable 
friend to human goodness and happiness, discovering 
upon the first intimation the merit or demerit of all 
human inclination to mental or physical action : thus 
by heeding its admonitions, virtue is produced, because 
the act, whatever it may be, is done without conflicting 
with the spiritual and natural laws pervading mind and 
matter : from virtue, happiness results, as the harmony 
of the operation left all the faculties it employed in that 
comparatively calm and perfect condition which pro- 
duces or is called happiness : thus, " virtue alone is hap- 
piness below." The source of all evil, it can be said in 
a few words, is from failing to comply with conscience, 
and misery is the feeling that results. 

A great many errors have been committed under the 
pretended guidance of conscience, thereby evincing that, 
like all other things, it has its counterfeit. The dis- 
tinguishing traits of a conscientious man, however, afford 
a pretty certain evidence of where it exists in truth : 
an unconscientious man is not a reflecting, sober, pray- 
erful and watchful man ; nor is he one inclined toward 
solitude, where communion, meditation and contempla- 
tion ally the individual to his conscience and his God. 



CONSCIENCE. 19 

The conscientious man is one whose calm moments are 
truly calm, where no inward ruffles or torments exist, 
and in which he recuperates and enjoys himself like he 
would in a garden blooming with pleasant flowers and 
teeming with ruddy fruits. 

Conscience is a bubbling spring in the waste of a 
sinner's nature, that is forced to return into itself, 
being checked from flowing by the accumulations around 
it : among the worst of these preventatives is found 
grounded a rock from the waste called the human will ; 
the yielding to any dictate of conscience removes this 
rock of will sufficiently to allow an egress to the waters 
of conscience, called virtue. Virtue is the stream flow- 
ing and spreading through the barren wastes of his 
nature, refreshing the parts through which it flows, and 
causing fruitful plants, called happiness, to spring along 
its borders. Reason, judgment, the will, and all other 
faculties of man, are the barren wastes which conscience, 
as its stream of virtue spreads, renders beautiful and 
fruitful. Hence by heeding the small beginnings of 
conscience, a man w r ill gradually merge into a possession 
of all that is desirable for his pleasure and culture in 
his walks through time. 

Among men, generally, reason compares matters, 
judgment decides which is best, and the will concludes 
the performance by acting as it chooses, either in the 
good or the bad; but it is evident that, until nurtured 
by conscience, reason's comparisons, judgment's deci- 
sions, and the will's preferments incline towards the sel- 
fishness and evil among which they are imbedded. 
Conscience, to a good man, is a spring of living waters 
making bountiful and fresh every part of the heritage 
bequeathed t© his control. 



THE FORMATION OF LOVE. 



It is desirable to know the process by which strictly 
good actions are rewarded by God, through his estab- 
lished laws, with peace and love. Understanding, as 
stated under conscience, that God's spirit is in all things 
and in man, it of course is one and the same thing in its 
characteristics, so to speak, everywhere ; the only dif- 
ference in regard to it being that man has more of it in 
him than is found in other visible matter. 

Now a good action having its spring from this foun- 
tain within, is lavished upon some human object or 
thing ; and the spirit having its counterpart in all things, 
meets itself in those actions whose motive proceeds from 
the spirit in man, and produces a loveable harmony, the 
emanations of which the individual feels in his bosom, 
and calls the love of God. As the goodness in man in- 
creases by continued obedience to the same pure prin- 
ciple, this harmony with all things increases, tending to 
bring about peace on earth and good-will to man ; and 
easily accounts in those who have an abundance of it, 
for the possibility of doing many things at variance with 
the laws of a sin-smitten earth. Thus the Apostle 
Paul, while warming himself by a fire in the presence 
of heathens, fearlessly saw a viper spring upon his hand, 
being probably driven from its haunt in the hollow 
wood thrown upon the fire ; he shook it off and felt no 
harm, much to the astonishment of the natives, who 



THE FORMATION OF LOVE. 21 

knew of its deadly character. The Prophet Daniel was 
placed among lions that he might be destroyed, but 
they troubled him not in the least. Such examples as 
these prove the existence of a universal spirit, and the 
ability in men who live up to man's share of it, to dem- 
onstrate the influence it exerts. 

When a good action is lavished upon a bad man it 
may be called casting pearls before swine, insomuch as 
the man has not in him that share of goodness which a 
human being should have, but only about enough to 
place him on an equality with swine : hence the spirit 
not meeting its counterpart, or at least a very small 
portion of what it should meet, less peace and harmony 
result than in meeting inanimate objects, and like the 
clashing of two opposing forces, that bitterness and 
persecution is engendered which the pious entail by ex- 
tending good to the wicked, or allowing them to become 
merely acquainted with the truth through books or 
other means. 

When an evil man has good presented to him, and 
chooses to accept it with a view of amending, it of 
course greatly pleases the offerer, and like putting the 
wanderer on the homeward track, a mutual joy is expe- 
rienced. Those men who, from certain circumstances, 
blandly allow proffered good a hearing or acceptance, 
while their minds are far from wishing its possession, 
resemble statues, which have the form of life while des- 
titute of the spirit. 

Love, as produced by this universal connection of 
spiritual essence pervading all things, produces a pos- 
sibility, were it fully established in man, of realizing 
that perfect Eden-like situation which preceded the fall 



22 THE FORMATION OF LOVE. 

of Adam ; the only possibility of its not being fully es- 
tablished, being the ordained condition of the world 
since the fall of man, in which weeds and variance are 
produced ; hence, while as many as will may become 
partakers of it, it is most probable that a new heaven 
and a new earth wherein such true righteousness might 
dwell, would welcome a universal ability for participa- 
tion in those things well pleasing to the Creator. 



PRAYER. 



An earthly parent is supposed to supply all things 
needful for its child without its asking ; and as men are 
typical of God, it may be presumed that the religious 
have no need of asking God for anything, insomuch as 
he knows what they stand in need of, and cannot give 
more nor less than the peculiar laws of man's condition 
entitle him to ; otherwise frail man upon earth could be 
viewed as influencing the God of all things in pandering 
to his necessities. To this it can be said, that man, or 
at least a religious man, has within him two distinct 
natures or lives : one is that which craves sensuous and 
earthly things, and the other is that which craves spir- 
itual and heavenly things. If a man, as in the case of 
the evil-disposed, follow the former alone, there are cer- 
tain fixed laws, no doubt, which reward him both here 
and hereafter with the consequences arising from that 
course, and no prayers or aught else can prevent a re- 
alization of those consequences, unless he should change 
and put himself under the training of his spiritual 
nature ; even then he may long be visited with the ills 
attendant upon his erring course. 

Presuming now that he changes his course, he finds 
himself under the influence of other laws with other re- 
sults. It of course requires no small effort to maintain 
a footing in a narrow way, new and untried ; he knows 
not when he may fall, nor how soon he may retrace his 



24 PRAYER. 

steps to his previous haunts ; he requires new outfits, 
new instructions, and a different food from the past, and 
thus it is that prayer is availed of to make known his 
necessities. Coming now to the point : true prayer being 
the sincere outpouring from the depths of our being, 
God looks upon it as an evidence of our sincere desires 
and fitness to receive his gifts, more than as supplica- 
tions or commands to effect what he possibly did not 
intend ; it is one of the most important means by which 
he blesses man ; man thus does his share, and God gives 
the increase. Those who oppose prayer on the ground 
that God knows man's wants and provides for such as 
are necessary, can remember that man has need of bread 
to sustain natural life, and God knows it ; but unless 
man sow and reap he does not obtain it : hence it is 
more reasonable to expect spontaneous grains from every 
soil and fruits from every bough, than to expect, with- 
out labor, those greater blessings which nurture man for 
duty and eternal life. 

Being as there is no height of perfection from which 
it is not possible to fall, it behooves man throughout his 
life to evince by prayer the sincerity of his desires for 
a continuation in holy life, and a participation in those 
things connected with it. Hence Jesus commanded 
that all should pray : " What I say unto one, I say 
unto all, watch and pray." Thus none are excused 
from praying. 

During one of the most trying periods of Jesus' life, 
he prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me ; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be 
done." Although it was ordained and proper for Jesus 
to pass through a trying ordeal, and he knew that there 



PRAYER. 25 

was no deliverance from it, lie yet shows that he was 
man, sensitive to suffering and possessing man's natural 
craving for alleviation from it ; but, recurring to his 
perfection, he prays in the next breath resigned to 
God's will, and, as he knew it, made his final words 
equal to inviting a realization of the very thing it seemed 
the object of his prayer to frustrate ; his prayer thus 
seems like ah idle exertion ; but it appears as if the 
spirit knew our spiritual needs and infirmities, and 
merely wants to see by prayer that we truly feel and 
represent them. Prayer is thus like a signal which 
shows our inward condition favorable for the reception 
of the things of God. As Jesus prayed, not merely to 
show us alone, but as a necessary concomitant of fleshly 
life, it is evident that no man is too high and perfect 
to be exonerated from undergoing the humble means 
thus extended for his benefit. 

Illustrative of the confidence with which men ought 
to pray, Jesus said, "What things soever you desire, 
when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you 
shall receive them." Thus there is called for a strain 
or stretch of the desire for a realization of certain things, 
which cannot be made by any but those seriously in 
earnest. The Christian, resigning all things, and totally 
dependent upon what his prayers call for, must have them, 
or nothing. The whole force of his nature is thrown 
into that one thing, and like a man with one idea, his 
object must be accomplished. 

Illustrative of the force of prayer and the change it 
may work in the destiny of a man, we have the story 
of a widow who wished a favor of a stern and haughty 
judge. The judge paid no attention to her for a while, 



26 PRAYEE. 

seeming as if she was one not intended to be heard or 
gratified ; but finally, being bothered by her importu- 
nity, he granted her request. From this it is shown 
that everybody is the author of his own destiny ; 
those are pre-ordained to destruction who follow a given 
course, and those are pre-ordained to mansions above 
who follow another course ; thus during life, the former 
can change to the latter and the latter to the former, 
" the first shall be last, and the last first," consequently 
the predestination lies in the laws pertaining to either 
course, rather than in preventing man from accepting 
either course he prefers. The ways of God are equal 
and his laws are just ; but neither would be so, were 
some created damned beyond any recognition given by 
compliance to his laws. 

Prayer being an expression of the whole bent of our 
being, it must, in the nature of things, obtain what it 
ashs for. As worldly men who set their minds seriously 
upon the realization of a certain object, will, if con- 
tinued in, sooner or later realize that object, so the same 
principle is applicable to the Christian in prayer ; but 
what favors him is, his goal being an eternal future life, 
he is incited to exercise a far greater degree of energy 
than the worldling, whose stimulus is objects pertaining 
only to the three-score years and ten. All great worldly 
men have in their individual experience surmounted 
mighty obstacles by determination and perseverance ; in 
fact they are called wiser in the pursuit of their objects 
than many professed children of the light are in theirs ; 
much to the shame of the latter, when their goal is so 
far superior. 

Prayer rallies all available forces around the banner 



PRAYER. 27 

of '■ holiness to the Lord," and protects against tempta- 
tion : — "Arise and pray, lest you enter into tempta- 
tion." 

The Pharisees of old thought they would be heard for 
their "much speaking;" but their hearts not being 
right before God, they prayed and obtained not. Thus 
it is at the present day, thousands of prayers are weekly 
offered in churches from lips apparently thrilling with 
sincerity and singleness of purpose ; but well-feigned 
though they be in studied words and delivery, they 
ascend less audibly for divine acceptance than does the 
barking of a half-starved dog, which really wants the 
cause of his complaint. 

To the beginner in religious life, continued inward 
prayer is a necessity ; not any studied form at all, but 
any simple ejaculation, such as "Good Lord deliver 
me," expressive of the immediate necessities for deliv- 
erance from former thoughts and habits of life. It 
indeed seems like a very trifling occupation, and to the 
mind which, possibly, before conversion, roamed in the 
fields of science and received the homage of men, it 
will seem very unlike the little acorn from which a 
mighty oak may grow. However simple this inward 
prayer may appear, it will keep the mind directed as 
much as possible to heaven and the things of it, and 
ultimately result in the ascension of all our faculties, 
following which they return on the same wings of 
prayer, and enter the things of this life in a manner far 
superior to the grovelling one previously known. 

With those spoken and public prayers of which thous- 
ands upon thousands are offered, the inward offerer has 
little to do. Worldlings pray for the gratification of 



28 PRAYER. 

such desires as they prefer of themselves, but he prays 
for a realization of the will of God concerning him, in 
opposition to the sinful desires of fallen nature ; he asks 
and he receives, he receives and he enjoys ; in his enjoy- 
ment he is blessed, and in blessedness he is crowned 
with a halo of that peace which passes the understand- 
ing of natural men, and affords a recognition among 
all those who are sanctified. 



WATCHING. 



By watching is implied such a continual reflection 
and supervision of our motives and tendencies as will 
keep us, as much as possible, in the right place, doing 
the right thing at the right time. It seems like a 
species of idleness to those not acquainted with its value. 
In every dispensation of Christian life it is necessary, 
but most of all at those periods which mark our transi- 
tion from one dispensation to another, and when oppressed 
from various causes, and when uncertain as to things 
that should be done or left undone. 

It is particularly necessary for the novice to adopt 
watching ; as, amid the evil accumulations surrounding 
the spring of life within him, he cannot, without watch- 
ing, discover when and where the refreshing waters of 
his conscience flow. In solitude he must watch, and to 
prevent loneliness he must pray, and both together will 
strengthen his abilities to discern the ways of truth, and 
maintain a footing through temptations from within and 
censures and ridicule from without. 

A Christian should never plead the silly excuse pre- 
valent among men, of lacking time ; he must be prover- 
bial in taking time for all the duties pertaining to his 
soul and his God. It is from the necessity for such 
duties that one reasonable excuse can be had for neglect- 
ing those natural ties of family and friendship which 
should designate all religious beginners, the more gen- 



30 WATCHING. 

eral ' motive for such neglect being the impossibility of 
loving God and of loving family and friends in and for 
God, while the requisite faculties are in their prepara- 
tory exercises. As in the beginning of religious life a 
man is under the dispensation of earning his bread by 
the sweat of his brow, the most of his time is occupied 
in labor, and the small remainder, which men mostly 
devote to pleasure or their families, he must devote to 
the duties of religion, else, giving it no attention, he 
acquire it not. Such demands as this the opponents to 
religion consider out of all reason ; but they reflect not 
how the greatest worldly men, poets, authors, philo- 
sophers and inventors, have only been enabled to leave 
their footprints on the sands of time, by previously ne- 
glecting lesser matters and availing themselves of every 
opportunity for improvement. 

If religion were no more important than the affairs 
of earth, we have, in the examples of men who make 
their mark, a reasonable excuse for neglecting lesser 
matters to obtain it ; but being as it prepares us for a 
better life here, and for a life of supreme happiness 
throughout the countless ages of eternity, we have a 
superior reason for abandoning for a time the little 
enjoyments of life, which, while afflicted with an evil 
conscience, sustain but little enjoyable relation to us at 
the best. Well, therefore, does it behoove the faithful 
to watch and pray, and overbalance the censures of men 
with the benefits thereof. 



FAITH AND WORKS. 



Great disputes have existed between the advocates of 
faith and those of works. Like all other formations of 
Christian doctrine, they are mutually dependent on one 
another and upon other formations of the system they 
represent. Which is superior and which is inferior is 
a delicate matter for a wise analysis to decide, and it 
certainly befits not a novice in the cause to give himself 
any uneasiness upon the subject, as more important 
duties demand attention. Hence we can too often 
justly place such as are, or should be, beginners, inclined 
toward disputing such matters, among that class of self- 
elated knowledge-seekers who love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity, but would fain represent themselves 
partakers at his table. Their views of faith are founded 
upon the mere matter of belief in the life, death and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the supposition that 
such a belief will, through his merits, tender them an 
inheritance in futurity among all those who are or have 
been sanctified. Also, that while living in this belief, 
the Lord, who will wash them of their sins at death, 
will, during their life, wink at or pass over the various 
sins they brazenly commit. 

The advocates of works, on the other hand, go about 
doing a great many deeds that are in themselves good, 
but having their eyes not clearly directed toward the 
Lord, or not doing their deeds at such a time and in 



32 FAITH AND WORKS. 

such a manner as their consciences would dictate if ap- 
pealed to, they of course establish a righteousness of 
their own, and not a righteousness founded upon the 
revelations of Christ's spirit within them. Thus the 
worldling in faith and the worldling in works are both 
ignorant of that faith without which it is impossible to 
please God, and of those works which are accounted 
righteousness in those who perform them. 

The aliens to true faith often do much harm when 
coming in contact with the simple-minded children of 
obedience, who show from pure motives of faith their 
ensuing works with the meekness of wisdom. Pro- 
claiming their barren faith to be sufficient for salvation, 
they discourage not only outward good works, but all 
attention to that inward work of regeneration which 
constitutes the business of Christian life. Being versed 
in all literal knowledge that will sustain their erring 
faith, the less gifted child of true faith is embarrassed 
and tempted by them, and sometimes caused to relin- 
quish his hold upon the principles which sustain eternal 
life. Such offences and temptations must needs come 
upon the child of faith, but " woe unto them by whom 
they come." 

As "without faith it is impossible to please God," it 
is shown how deeply rooted faith is and must be to be 
true in itself, and be capable of exerting its o'er-shadow- 
ing influence to such an extent that, without it, the 
whole offering of a holy life would be unacceptable to 
God. 



QUIETUDE OR PASSIVENESS. 



Man is by nature hasty and impetuous ; what he sees 
or desires he must have immediately, provided due ex- 
ertion can obtain it. He finds, however, in every situ- 
ation of life, that the desire is intended to precede for 
some time the attainment of any new thing, and per- 
severance under patience must be the law by which he 
must abide. The man who has set his desire upon re- 
ligion is apt to mingle the aforesaid impetuous inclina- 
tion in its pursuit, and disdaining patience, with an 
active impetuousness, impelled by his own force of will, 
seek a hasty realization of his better desires. Such a 
one eventually finds to his sorrow the utter impossibility 
of gaining true virtue and happiness, and has, ere he 
does gain them, to retrace his steps and begin in a way 
and a time of which he is ignorant : "Your time is 
always ready, but my time has not yet come." 

Now, as laudable as the pursuit of holiness is, and as 
earnestly as we are commanded to gain it by vigorous 
exertion, — "Since the days of John the Baptist, the 
kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent 
take it by force " — there is yet another phase in which 
a perfect repose of man's faculties and a patient waiting 
are an essential means for obtaining some good and per- 
fect gifts, which, like dew, descend from above when all is 
still. 



34 QUIETUDE OR PASSIVENESS. 

Quietude implies a resting or waiting until all the 
natural excitement and ability of man have subsided, 
and until, having become weak in these respects, he is 
endued with another gradual strength called the power 
from on high, which is generally received after a total 
weakness and abnegation of all fleshly strength and de- 
sires : — " When I am weak, then I am strong." Hence 
it is that being " poured out like milk and eurdled like 
cheese," he is refilled in God's way with the righteous- 
ness he hungered for. It is a humiliatory process, it 
must be confessed ; but such is man's proneness to 
attribute things to himself, as man, and fall into the many 
vain snares connected therewith, that it is best, in re- 
ceiving the superior gifts of holiness, to undergo some 
process whereby this tendency would be lessened ; as 
notwithstanding this guardian care, man is still, under 
temptation, likely enough to do himself the injustice and 
the cause the dishonor to forsake it, or apply it in a 
manner wholly at variance with the good ends for which 
it was intended. 

Many of the mental afflictions imposed upon the 
righteously inclined, as well as many bodily complaints, 
or " thorns in the flesh," as the Apostle Paul describes 
his share upon one occasion, are given man as coverts 
under which the greatest blessings are received. 
Wicked men often deride these things, and many, called 
to be saints, fearing these derisions on one hand and the 
afflictions on the other, allow their pride and timidity 
to overcome a mighty faith or trust that relies through 
all things upon God alone. 

If a quietist's outward and inward life could be dis- 
cerned when under the peculiar and particular dispen- 



QUIETUDE OR PASSIVENESS. # 35 

sation of quietism, he would bear an appearance resem- 
bling a dumbfounded and stupid fool, unfit alike to be 
seen or live among men : — " If any of you would be 
wise, let him first become a fool, that he may be made 
wise." But let not these unfavorable appearances be 
charged to God, or to that better nature which he is the 
father of in pious men ; but rather to that sinful nature, 
which has thus to undergo that humiliatory purification 
to render it a fit receptacle for the care of a life more 
valuable. Humility, patience, and singleness of pur- 
pose to the work and designs of God, are therefore 
among the cardinal virtues of the quietist, whose very 
name implies an inward laborer in the vineyard of his 
Lord. 



GOODNESS IN MAN. 



It is mostly said that " all good is of God," which is 
true in a general sense, as he made all things, and is in 
all things, and all men have their being more or less in 
him ; but it is desirable to show in what manner the 
visible true good that is done in the world is of man. 
It is a sad reflection on man, and a poor consolation in 
his walks through life, to continually speak of himself 
and hear himself spoken of as a miserable sinner, 
unable to do any good thing, and consequently unable to 
be happy, as goodness produces happiness. By saying 
that it is impossible for man to do good, we could as well 
say that no moral good is done in the world at all, as 
there is nothing besides man to control it. 

Most men claim that " the heart of man is deceitful 
above all things, and desperately wicked," and they love 
to have it so in a more or less modified manner, modi- 
fied enough to give the appearance of morality in the 
eyes of men. Now, irreligious men are undoubtedly just 
all they lay claim to in this respect; but it does nob 
follow that the religious, although men too, living an 
additional life derived from another source, should be so 
likewise. The irreligious, like polluted streams flowing 
through a city, gather in all offal as they flow ; while the 
religious, like the mountain streams, are the essence of 
the pure regions of ice and snow through which they 
course. 



GOODNESS IN MAN. 37 

Most all men acknowledge that God is good ; but how 
can they, in acknowledging his goodness, overlook a 
possible goodness in man, when man was originally 
created in his image or likeness, partaking in a measure 
of all his attributes ? By sin man is of course defiled, 
but religion is a panacea by which he seeks to have re- 
newed within him that good spirit and its attributes to 
which he has been lost ; and as this work is gradual, 
goodness developes itself by degrees ; and when his 
restoration is complete and he is crowned with the Holy 
Spirit, a perfect and sinless man must be the result, 
that is to say, perfect as considered in relation to God's 
laws for man's temporal sphere of existence ; for earth, 
as compared to heaven, is, indeed, imperfect at the best, 
and so are the best of actions its holiest men can per- 
form. Like Adam in his purity, this state does not pre- 
clude a possibility of again falling, through temptation. 
Nevertheless, being thoroughly aware of what is right 
and what is wrong, he cannot, like a less matured saint, 
have any excuse for deviating into sin ; consequently any 
sin he may have committed before receiving the brand 
of perfection — the gift of the spirit — may, in undergoing 
the necessary punishment, have been forgiven him ; but 
any sin now committed cannot be forgiven. Thus we 
read that all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, ex- 
cept those against the Holy Ghost. 

As the highest perfection is not incompatible with the 
various duties of life, and as marriage and the begetting 
of children are among those duties, children begotten of 
parents thus perfected are not necessarily conceived in 
sin and not born sinful into the world, though from birth 
will have the susceptibility of being tempted into sin : 



38 GOODNESS IN MAN. 

thig, however, the guardian care of pious parents would 
wisely endeavor to prevent ; and if prevented through- 
out, renders it possible to witness the life of a sinless 
being. Such questions as these it is unnecessary to 
enlarge upon ; there have been innumerable disputes 
concerning them, and the writer of this work does not 
want to be understood as directing from the first to such 
brightness as may dazzle to all good and light the way 
to none. 

In the Scriptures many men are alluded to as good 
men, and frequent incitements are given to perfection. 
It is generally found that the men most strenuously op- 
posed to the doctrine of perfection, are not men who are 
earnestly trying to do their duty and fail in the attempt ; 
but rather are they men given to vain disputes, revel- 
ling in sinful life, and feebly attempting to shield them- 
selves by maintaining the impossibility of perfection, or 
of leading more consistent lives. 



INVESTIGATING THE THINGS OF GOD. 



In the researches of the ancient philosophers attempts 
were often made to embrace a knowledge of the deep 
mysteries of God, but the results obtained were not com- 
mensurate with the time and labor spent in the under- 
taking. As these men were not allied to God by the 
love and obedience which are found among saints, they 
had not that high and spiritual standpoint to judge from 
which is ever necessary for divine wisdom or philosophy : 
they were men, nevertheless, very able in all respects 
except this, and being highly original in their thoughts 
and researches, attained about the climax of human en- 
deavors for knowledge, mixed with a semblance of virtue, 
while strangers to those refreshing draughts whose 
springs within them were never opened. 

As children of the ancient fathers in philosophy, are 
found that vast body of persons at the present day, who 
are always prying and " ever learning, but never able to 
come to a knowledge of the truth." The doctors of old 
sought such a knowledge from Jesus, but he garbed his 
revelations in language and parables which it was im- 
possible for minds not experienced in the truth to under- 
stand. It was thereby shown that the depraved tastes 
of men should not be gratified with gifts of which they 
are unworthy, lest becoming more deeply immersed in 
their self-conceited investigations, they become farther 
removed from a possibility of accepting an experimental 
knowledge of the truth in its simplicity. 



40 INVESTIGATING THE THINGS OF GOD. 

The answering of all deep questions would in no man- 
ner better the condition of man as he now is, or make 
plainer the path in which he should walk toward duty 
to himself, his neighbor, and his God. It would rather 
increase that knowledge which puffs up with self-con- 
ceited pride, and decrease the growth of that charity 
which edifies and humbles ; " sufficient unto the day is 
the evil thereof," and sufficient is that knowledge of the 
things of God which shows up evil and the means for 
overcoming it. 

Some learned men of the world take occasion from 
not hearing the mysteries of the Christian system ex- 
plained to their satisfaction, to class the whole system as 
mysterious and unreasonable, and thereby excuse them- 
selves from having part in its programme. The Chris- 
tian, childlike, and in a faith dependent on its heavenly 
parent, ventures forth in the untried sphere, evincing 
more bravery in his real simplicity than all the combined 
opponents of the system. 

We compare God to a father; "as a father pities Jiis 
children, even so the Lord pities us ;" and as it would 
be a great weakness in a parent to explain to a mere 
child all the processes of its birth and the motives that 
actuate his commands, even so would itjbe with our 
heavenly Father. By walking in faith and obedience 
in childhood, there is no doubt but that when we arrive 
at the stature of a man all necessary knowledge will be 
vouchsafed us. 

Life is so short, and so few live it as they ought, and 
the one single object of living a childhood in Christ or 
God so engrossing and time-taking, that necessarily few 
arrive at the zenith of wisdom. A tempered ambition 



INVESTIGATING THE THINGS OF GOD. 41 

for its attainment is not any more inconsistent than it 
is in the natural child to hope for the abilities of the 
future man. Some persons indolently disposed, say that 
it is not man's privilege to pry into the mysteries of 
God ; but those same men pay their ministers or priests 
for prying for them, so far as they can ; and in thus 
receiving what is truly stolen, they are as amenable as 
if stealing themselves. It is very true that an im- 
properly regulated desire or effort is evil in itself and 
void of any true results ; but the manner in which 
Solomon and other good and wise men desired and 
obtained wisdom, is sufficient evidence that God was the 
alpha of their hopes and the omega of their attainments. 
One of the Apostles writes to the effect, that, if any 
man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all 
good men liberally, and upbraids not for asking, and it 
shall be given him. We thus see that it is praiseworthy 
to seek wisdom ; and none can dispute that it is one of 
the attributes of wisdom to search out the hidden things 
of God, and present them for the instruction and de- 
light of its children. 



THE CHEEKFULNESS OF EELIGION. 



Many persons cognizant only of that outward cheer- 
fulness of animal or natural life which is commended 
among men, take occasion from the lack of it among 
certain classes of truly religious persons, to look upon 
and speak of them as unworthy representatives of the 
cause they espouse. The truth is that religion embraces 
cheerfulness as well as all other things, but in the wis- 
dom known only to itself, bestows and allows it at times 
and in ways which the worldling sees and understands 
not. 

The religious beginner, sensible of his past sins, and 
feeling poignantly the effects of their existence, is indeed 
not a very suitable subject to represent cheerfulness 
among men ; he is " a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief," and by sadness of countenance his heart is 
made better, and any attempt at cheerfulness will be 
viewed by his past friends and sinners as a return 
to the " wallowing in the mire." Consequently all per- 
suasions of his friends to that end are to be viewed as 
temptations, which, if entered, would be destructive to 
his inner life : he seeks for an inward peace and cheer- 
fulness, even " the peace of God which passes understand- 
ing," and " that peace which the world can neither give 
nor take away." 

When alone with himself and his Creator, the Chris- 
tian frequently enjoys the inward peace ; and as he pro- 



THE CHEERFULNESS OF RELIGION. 43 

gresses in the restoration of his inner man to the image 
in which it was created, will derive continual additions, 
which permeate his being, and eventually indicates itself 
in his outward appearance, and produces as great an 
envy or ill-feeling among the worldlings as his former 
seriousness : thus showing how wholly impervious they 
are to every situation founded upon the revealed life of 
God in man. 

We have, in numerous chapters of the Bible recount- 
ing the individual experience of the psalmist J)avid, a 
representation of both the depressed and exalted feel- 
ings to which he was subject ; showing that there is " a 
time for all things." The men of the world put the 
cart before the horse in all their displays, however, and 
in seasons of sadness say we should laugh, and when 
our " mouth is filled with laughter and our tongue with 
song," they gravely admonish us that moderation and 
seriousness are more becoming the profession of saints. 
The matured Christian can check the exuberant feel- 
ings of his bosom to give as little occasion as possible 
for reproach ; but as Jesus said upon one occasion, " If 
these (the others) should hold their peace, the stones 
would immediately cry out." Let the children of God 
enjoy the freedom of their condition while they may, 
and give spontaneous gush to their new-born emotions. 

Men, when in crowds for business or pleasure, are 
mostly pleasant and smiling, as if each were seeking the 
other's welfare, and as if sorrow and fraud were strangers 
to their bosoms. But analyze them, they smile but to 
deceive, and their thoughts are all of self. 

Some people, like the primitive Quakers, or Friends, 
adopt a sober countenance, and sombre garments and 



44 THE CHEERFULNESS OF RELIGION. 

plain address ; all of which may be well enough for 
persons in a certain dispensation requiring such things : 
but when they become a mere matter of continued 
studied form, they rank with other " forms of godliness " 
that possess not the power. In the above things, as 
considered in themselves, there is no virtue at all ex- 
tended unto man, as the Creator of all things is as well 
pleased with the visage of the lion as the lamb, and with 
the gaudy colors of the butterfly as the dull worm from 
which it sprung, and with the bold whistle of the whip- 
powil as the gentle cooing of the dove. 

To the novice these sombre things are often a profit- 
able means of advancement ; as by sobriety our interest 
in a heavenly cause is shown, by plainness our pride is 
checked, and by plain language no flattery is given and 
none expected, and the humility to which they all con- 
tribute will prevent our mingling in the company of the 
proud. 

The novice is to take no care about what he shall eat, 
drink or wear, and it is as much an evil for those profes- 
sing to be in this dispensation to be particular about the 
plain appearance of their garments, as it is to be studying 
the latest fashions. It is supposed that the mind is en- 
gaged with far more desirable thoughts, and the accept- 
ance of either a fashionable or a mean garment which 
happens to come into the wearer's possession, is better 
than being careful about any. 

As far as the use of the words thee and thou and their 
attributes are concerned, we can certainly speak in their 
favor, aside from any religious connection, as they are 
correct in grammar, and much more affectionate than the 
harsher yous which have been supplied in their place. 



THE CHEERFULNESS OF RELIGION. 45 

A great degree of seriousness is becoming in any who 
undertake a religious life ; even the world looks for a 
certain degree ; but there are many who profess to under- 
take it, and loathing the attendant self-denial, persuade 
themselves that religion is a religion of cheerfulness, and 
turn about like a dog to his vomit to partake again of 
the world's sin-sick hilarity. In thus disdaining that 
sadness of countenance which indicates inward prosperity 
in virtue, they may be classed among the many who are 
called, and the many who are turned away from a par- 
ticipation in that peace which passes all understanding, 
and allows our minds to be filled with the knowledge and 
love of God. 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 



It is remarkable with what a dread of death some of 
the very cheeriest, bravest-looking men of the world are 
permeated. It is accountable though, when we con- 
sider that they know it will sooner or later come, like 
a war which they cannot escape or offer a substitute for, 
and will deprive them of all their possessions, and enter 
them upon the beginning of a vast existence of which 
all present conceptions afford no adequate idea. Thoughts 
of death very often prove so disheartening, that they 
stamp the mind with the hope and preference for a 
beastly nonentity or eternal sleep : many men are found 
thus eased and hardened in life, but only to make their 
entrance in futurity more astounding. 

As all men have to die, it is natural that spontaneous 
thoughts concerning death should arise in every mind. 
Human ingenuity has modified this arrangement, and 
adopted a continual series of labors and pleasures to 
prevent as much as possible the entrance of such obnox- 
ious intruders ; thus indeed constituting the heavy yoke 
that sin imposes upon its followers. By so doing they 
hasten the very end which they shun, as the proper 
cultivation of man's better faculties is neglected, and 
an excessive strain imposed upon others which sooner 
overbalances the whole. The mind needs a waking rest, 
in which it can, undisturbed by outside influences, re- 



THE FEAR OF DEATH. 47 

tire within itself and calmly consider itself in its own 
real character ; but as most men are not satisfied with 
or able to entirely overcome the compunctions of con- 
science, which sustains a mental relation and would 
fain be noticed in quiet moments, the known aversion 
to a solitary waking rest exists, and sin whirls its 
votaries on in a continual vortex of unnaturalness through 
life to hasty death. 

As there are certain pleasurable inducements con- 
nected with the performance of certain obligations in 
life, to induce their realization by those properly pre- 
pared, so may there be inborn aversions or fears con- 
nected with the realization of others as means to pre- 
vent any hasty or excessive participation : thus, that 
man may not too hastily seek the end of his earthly 
existence, God has placed before death an inborn aversion, 
which, though partaking of the nature of excessive fear 
and dread in sinners, is still an inmate of the best men's 
bosoms. There are exceptional cases, such as of those 
dying in martyrdom, where various circumstances dis- 
annul the law and heaven brightens the shadowed 
valley for its sufferer ; but otherwise, when the holiest 
men have to calmly and impotently lie on their backs, 
looking straight up into the face of their God and the 
eternity in waiting, and feel the divine spark of heavenly 
flame gradually leaving and darkening their temples of 
clay, the peculiarity of the situation and the uncertainty 
of the immediate proceedings to follow give rise to 
spontaneous fears, which nothing but an experienced 
resignation to O'erruling Power can allay. 

Notwithstanding the laws of inducement and aversion, 
there are still found many who act in opposition to both. 



48 THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

Many whose sensibilities have become blunted in the 
troubles and perversities of a sinful life are callous to 
natural laws, and gladly commit suicide for relief; and 
many, pleading piety when piety is no longer a virtue, 
in disdaining certain things, will still refuse an acceptance 
of the things of life, and others from motives of mere 
selfishness will do the same. 

In the transporting periods of early religious life, when 
sincerity of purpose and faithfulness under persecution 
are the constant attendants of the novice, death is viewed 
as a welcome boon — as a departing to be with Christ, 
which is far better than remaining in the sin-struggle on 
earth . 



THE WILL. 



Two great will powers control all tilings. One is the 
will of God. as found in nature and in sanctified indi- 
viduals, and the other is the will of man as displayed 
in the works of man, and found in man as the perverted 
form of God's will so produced by sin. Hence God's 
will, wherever found, is right, and man's will is wrong ; 
and it is the duty of all men wishing divine recognition, 
to resign their own will and become partakers of the will 
of Him whose favor they covet. 

As the will is the great universal power which drives 
man into all his pursuits and strengthens him in their 
performance, it is evident that any suppression or reform 
of it will abate those labors in which he has been en- 
gaged ; as while machinery is undergoing repair it is 
impossible to expect its usual labor : cognizant of this 
repairing labor, the novice is commanded to "forsake 
all" his previous pursuits which have called for an ex- 
ercise of will, and seek first the kingdom of he^en 
alone, or in other words, those inward experiences con- 
nected with the purification of his being. After this 
has been accomplished his will is restored in a blended 
oneness or harmony with God, and the Scripture is real- 
ized which says, "I and the Father are one " ; here he 
wills what God wills, and acts in as perfect an accord- 
ance with all the laws of the divine will as his condi- 
tion will allow. His will then being in unity with God, 



50 THE WILL. 

his ability and pleasure in exercising it are one hundred 
fold superior to those possessed in the exercise of his 
former evil will. Thus, while religion leads us in nar- 
row and unpleasant ways at first, it subsequently opens 
broad paths for labor and pleasantness. 

Great disputes have existed respecting the freedom of 
the will. Some maintain that man is a pre-ordained 
creature, and, Judas-like, nothing within him can 
change his destiny. Now, it is possible for a man to 
accept any course he prefers at any time of life, or amid 
any surroundings, though the deeper he is immersed in 
a certain course the less likelihood there is of a change 
and the harder it is to make it ; and from hence comes 
the known difficulty of old sinners changing their ways. 
Upon accepting either one of two things, a course in 
virtue, or a course in sin, there are certain, fixed and 
unalterable laws, numerous and varied, which will apply 
themselves and their consequences to every phase of his 
chosen course ; here, indeed, in obviating the effects of 
these laws, man is not a free or able agent, and has no 
more power to change the ordained consequences of his 
actions than he would have in jumping from a precipice 
and landing in the moon instead of on a lower spot of 
earth. 

Like everything among men, a man can choose what 
business or pleasure he chooses, but there are laws con- 
nected with each which he feels bound to respect; he 
must get his license for business, and wear his dress 
suit to the ball. So whether enlisted on the side of 
virtue or of error, each has its laws and consequences 
to govern and reward : there are countless gradations 
and subdivisions of each, each is a world of itself, and 



THE WILL. 51 

like a world, is divided into many different parts, 
many different people, and many different forms of gov- 
ernment ; in whatever part or dispensation of either 
world we may be, we are expected, and in fact have to 
comply with such laws as govern that part and are ap- 
plicable to us. 

Jesus said, "Not my will, but thine be done," infer- 
ring that as man, being as he came on earth to go 
through the whole process of man, he had a will, or was 
exposed to the temptation of making one by sinning, 
but by always repressing the temptation he lived from 
first to last in that perfect unity with God which no 
other mortal has ever before or since equalled. He left 
his example for our imitation, in so far as reuniting our 
will to the will of God, and living thereafter as if we 
had never known a separation from it. This it is pos- 
sible for us to do ; while it is impossible for us to say, 
in remembrance of our sinful life, that we never sinned. 

The propriety of a Creator having two wills has 
been argued by infidels, atheists and deists, and ridi- 
culed as one among the many incongruities of the Chris- 
tian system A proper statement of the matter may, 
however, afford opportunity to form a better estimate. 
A man cannot have two wills, neither can God ; will 
power considered in itself is one. A man by con- 
version can have his will changed. God cannot 'have 
his will changed ; it is the same pure principle yester- 
day, to-day and forever ; but he can have the decisions 
of his will changed a thousand times if necessary: here 
is where the mistake comes in. The results of the 
operation of the will, called its decisions, are adapted to 
necessities, without affecting the power or principle of 



52 THE WILL. 

the will's elements : otherwise, in changing the decisions 
of the will, the possessor would, as it is thought, change 
with it, and God in framing the New Testament would 
be as fickle and changeable as his enemies represent him. 
God would indeed be very powerless, if, upon seeing 
that a condition of things required a new means of gov- 
ernment, he was unable to make any alteration or 
amendment to laws that had been found inefficient. 

Thus, viewing the matter from the infidel's point, 
God is true and they are false ; but viewing it as it 
really was, we have satisfactory proof through the 
prophets that it was the will of God long in the past 
to make a new revelation of his will to man, and if 
traceable that far in the knowledge of men, it is justly 
presumable that from the very foundation of the world 
the idea existed with God. 

In fundamental principles " there is nothing new 
under the sun," but as life is a new thing for everybody 
born into it, although it is the same old thing, so the 
people of various ages can regard as new much that 
appears to them, when perhaps not only fundamental 
principles, but their most minute bearings previously ex- 
isted in manner corresponding with present conceptions. 
As a proof of this, in part, we have the personal re- 
ligious experience of Job and David, who passed through 
the same humbling and self-denying process as the 
Christian of to-day. 



THE HUMAN REASON. 



As shown previously, an obedience to conscience is 
the fundamental requisite for the acquisition of virtue 
and happiness, or holiness and heaven. Conscience, 
from its nature, is an ever-ready, instant discriminator 
between good and evil ; while reason would not bear to 
be entrusted with such work, from the fact of its re- 
quiring a given time to form its conclusions, which are 
the results of comparing a number of objects. 

Furthermore, men reason from what they know ; and 
as all the knowledge of an unregenerated man has been 
obtained in his processes of sin, or while he lived in a 
life of sin, all such knowledge will be sinful, as well as 
the faculty of reason to which he submits it for consider- 
ation ; hence reason's comparisons or conclusions will 
always bear a conformity to that state of sin, as a stream 
cannot rise higher than its source ; and will, as long as 
heeded, preclude any possibility of rightly discerning 
those holy things connected with the work of regenera- 
tion. 

Thus reason requires to be entirely disregarded by 
the beginner in religious life, and humbly be classed 
among all those other faculties of the human mind 
which undergo a purifying process ; and there can be no 
call for its aid but in so far as that process has been 
carried on : when finally completed, reason is a wonder- 
ful aid in the pursuit of wisdom ; in fact, wisdom may be 



54 THE HUMAN KEASON. 

called the fruit of reason. Conscience, on the contrary, 
being in itself always the same pure principle, though 
diminished in sinners in proportion to their sins, requires 
no such purification at any time, and must be the only 
attribute in man's possession that is free from that pro- 
cess, and consequently able to direct. It is therefore 
presumptuous in the advocates of reason to seek its 
assistance when it needs assistance itself. " The blind 
cannot lead the blind ;" and those would-be religionists 
who take reason as their guide from the first, with many 
pompous assertions as to its abilities, are found after 
weary revelling in its mazes, as far as ever from the 
goal they professed to wish. The truth is, that by reason 
they attempt, by the power of man, to cheat heaven of 
its appointed way ; or as Jesus said, " He who enters not 
by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbs up some other 
way, the same is a robber;" but one after another of 
such professors jump and climb, strain and fall, attain 
nothing, do themselves more injury than good, and are 
additionally burdened with the sin of offending simpler 
souls with the same temptation. 

No advocate of reason's guidance has ever yet been 
known to become practically acquainted with religious 
life, and there never will be. The early and foundation 
work, in the case of a sinner turning to virtue, must be 
given to conscience, reserving for what reason can do a 
later period, although the aid of conscience may not even 
then be disregarded ; being the early nourisher, it is still 
present, exercising a guardian and parental care over all 
that transpires. 



A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. 



If the opponents of religion bore in mind that it em- 
braces a time for all things, and if those who profess it 
progressed sufficiently to realize a just amount of the 
varied things, there would indeed be a mighty source of 
complaint quenched outright. The opponents judge the 
tree by its fruits, and seeing, among professing Chris- 
tians, their petty and piecemeal acceptances, with no 
hope indicated for anything beyond, they very justly 
class it, or as it is thus developed, as a feeble and re- 
stricted system, unfit for sensible men's consideration, 
and altogether too ridiculous to be called the business of 
life. Thus swarms of professing ministers and Chris- 
tians desecrate above all others the Briarean-like system 
which is equally embracive of all men, all time, and all 
things. 

If it is possible, we want to establish the fact that 
religion is the pleasure of pleasures and the business of 
businesses ; and one proof of its being so, is the many 
who try it and the few who prove competent to continue 
in it, — "Many are called, but few are chosen." As 
elsewhere shown in this work, some advocates of religion 
plunge deeply into asceticism, and others as deeply into 
liberalism, each maintaining that their one hobby is the 
sole essential attribute ; hence the worldling argues that 
neither embraces a sufficiently extended sphere to engage 
the serious attention of a human being, and he banishes 



56 A TIME FOE, ALL THINGS. 

all consideration of the matter. But show him a life 
demanding a time for all things, more extensive than 
any occupation he is acquainted with, and more honored 
than aught else by the sufferings its advocates have 
endured ; and show its conception in the womb of time 
to be, notwithstanding, but an atom of its life prepara- 
tory for eternity, and you show him what is calculated to 
awe him with the stern realities of a stupendous system. 

We yery often hear of men who attempt by their own 
strength to break themselves of but one evil habit, and 
we see what time and effort it requires : now compare 
this with the thorough renovation of all man's faculties 
and attributes, and if properly compared, some adequate 
idea may be formed of the Christian's labor. As a re- 
pentant sinner is thoroughly disgusted with himself, and 
all his acquisitions made in a life of sin, he very readily 
feels like stooping in the dust to all men, turning the 
other cheek to the smiter, and giving two coats to him 
who asks one ; any mode of existence barely sustaining- 
life is sufficient, and he gladly shows to all men by 
every possible denial and humility his disgust of life : 
he hates his own life, he hates his parents, and he hates 
everything under the sun, save the will or love of Grod : 
all this he does like rooting up an evil tree, preparatory 
to being planted anew, and thence growing and bearing 
fruit more acceptable. 

The various portions of Scripture must be considered 
as related to the work to which they apply, otherwise 
they are a mass of contradiction. Thus we have, " If 
any man come unto me and hate not his father and 
mother, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my dis- 
ciple." If not considered as above, how could we con- 



A TIME FOR ALL things, 57 

sistently be elsewhere advised to " honor thy father and 
thy mother," and to "love life and see good days"? 
How could we " forsake all," and " obtain one hundred 
fold more "? How could we " curse the dav of our 
nativity," and "rejoice evermore"? How could we 
" mourn," and then be " comforted "? How could w T e 
" hunger and thirst after righteousness," and then be 
"filled"? How could we "love oar enemies," when 
we " hate father and mother "? How could we " deny 
ourselves and take up our daily cross," and " leave an 
inheritance to our children's children ?■" In fact, nothing- 
can be done unless confident that " To everything there 
is a season, and a time to every purpose under the 
heaven." 



THE BIBLE. 



No book extant is so sublime, interesting, instructive, 
and productive of good as the Bible. Though as old as 
Christianity, and though having been battered about 
among a host of translators, it still preserves its lucid 
character as a beacon among books. Opposers have said 
that the writings of certain philosophers, and such books 
as the Koran, contain moral precepts equally as good as 
those of the Bible. Allowing this, those same works 
have no such emanations from their pages as the Bible ; 
their words do not cany with them the meaning, strength 
and conviction of those of the Bible; they are blank 
cartridges with nothing to take effect, they are straws 
feebly burning by a brilliant lamp. If the Bible were 
all the fable and lie its opposers would have it to be, 
with this life-giving, light-giving principle about it, it 
would still stand unequalled in all the respects its 
admirers claim, and be as worthy of universal accept- 
ance. 

The Bible is a fountain ever flowing and never drained. 
The humble beginner in the path of piety finds in it a 
volume of instruction ; as he progresses, a new volume 
of truths appears ; and if he becomes tli3 possessor of 
wisdom, it is a text-book of wisdom for him to enjoy 
and expatiate upon. From its general instructions 
applicable to every situation, it can appropriately be 
called " the word of God," without detracting from the 



THE BIBLE. 59 

principle that perceives God's word still more in con- 
science, or, as the Scriptures term it, in our hearts and 
in our mouths that we may do it. 

Without conscience, the Bible is not a sufficient guide 
in piety ; it is this which dictates when and how we 
shall do or not do. The Bible contains such a variety 
of commands, and many wholly at variance with each 
other, that, without the aid of conscience in making our 
selections, we would be in a maze of bewilderment, igno- 
rant of where to begin and how to continue ; and if we 
tried to make any discretion, the aid of our reason would 
be summoned, and this, being unsanctified at this period, 
would draw conclusions favorable to sinful life, as is so 
often sadly apparent. It is after the faculties of the 
mind are sanctified, under the directions of conscience, 
that we can wisely and safely entrust reason with Bible 
truths ; hence, to the early beginner under the teachings 
of conscience, the Bible is not much more than a witness 
or a proof to inward revelations, though at the same 
time a most truthful and pleasant one. 

The spirit emanating from reading the life of Jesus 
and other characters of the Bible, is one in which men 
mostly see all their actions on a corresponding level ; 
the cause of this is, that, however diverse be the actions 
of holy men, they are permeated by the same spirit, 
and an even glow is the result. There have been, and 
still are, men who endeavor to place before the world 
some of the actions recited in the Bible as unfit for pub- 
lication in connection with its other parts ; but such 
persons, and those tempted to incline with them, can be 
referred to the spirit emanating from the book, and leave 
matters, the controlling spirit of which they are igno- 
rant, rest as they incline to. 



60 THE BIBLE. 

The most positive proof of the genuineness of spiritual 
emanations can be afforded by noting the reflections that 
arise in the minds of ordinary men upon reading the 
Bible. Let any one read those professedly objectionable 
parts of the. Old Testament in which wars, atrocities, con- 
cubinage and adultery are recited, and then read books of 
to-day treating of such matters in equally plain language, 
and notice afterward the difference of the reflections that 
may arise — in connection with the former their reflec- 
tions will be fraught with purity — with the latter they 
wi,ll hang heavily clogged by all that debases and 
shatters. This is judging a tree by its fruits; and as 
everything can be misjudged and perverted, so are some 
sinful men given over to work themselves into an 
opposite realization ; but they produce no lasting results 
in weakening the steady hold the Bible has maintained 
upon its numerous believers in Christian nations. 

If some parts of the Bible were calculated to produce 
such effects as its opposers represent, the votaries of 
passion and sensuality would call it their bosom friend, 
and books of extracts printed in letters of gold would 
glisten in everv habitation of crime. Contrary to this, 
the best of men have it continually before themselves 
and their families, and virgin daughters and faithful 
wives peruse its pages with the happiest and purest 
reflections. 

An argument that Bible opposers advance can be 
brought in here to corroborate the foregoing : they say, 
" Let any father take to his home a book reciting such 
matters as some parts of the Bible, and he will at once 
be branded by his family as worse than a beast — no 
father with a grain of moral feeling or respect for his 



THE BIBLE. 61 

family would attempt such a thing." To this, of course, 
we say, very true ; but in consideration of the virtuous 
emanations of the Bible, will still buy them, have one 
in every room of the house, read them morning and 
night, and note the purity they produce. 

The Bible is called an inspired book, which many of 
those who believe in it take to be, that it was written 
by men particularly and peculiarly endowed with ability 
from God so to do. They consequently look upon it 
with feelings of awe and sacredness, as if it were some- 
thing that could never be approached by any others, 
unless some special manifestation or revelation similar 
to the past should favor such an undertaking. 

Now the simple truth in regard to the production of 
what may be called inspired writings, is that they are 
or have been written under precisely the same influences 
as actuate literary men generally, with the sole differ- 
ence that the faculties which flow into expression of their 
acquirements in words have been previously purified by 
the regenerating work of religion; the product or book 
therefore possesses a clearness, beauty, strength and 
attractiveness which charm the reader, especially ifne be 
one inclined toward the same work which its author un- 
derwent. We often read language as pretty and sayings 
as truthful as those of the Bible, but still we say the 
Bible is far superior ; and, with the exception of saying 
that it is inspired, can offer no demonstration of its 
superiority, when a simple remembrance of the purified 
channel through which it flows to us explains ?vll. 



MONKS, MENNONITES, SHAKERS, DUNKERS, 
AND PECULIAR PEOPLE. 



There are in the world a number of sects or commu- 
nities more or less of an ascetic order, who maintain 
that there can be no reconciliation of the world and re- 
ligion, each being diametrically opposed to the other ; 
hence they argue that religionists should undergo a lop- 
ping off of all pleasures, many comforts, and some ne- 
cessities, to insure their maintaining a birth -right for 
heaven. 

Now, while the tenets of such sects have in them 
much that is praiseworthy, they lack much that is 
needful. In the first place, owing to the vast differ- 
ence in men, in their organizations and the time in life 
when they accept religion, no particular set of rules, 
however well founded, will apply beneficially to all — a 
great diversity or freedom is necessary ; hence any body 
of persons can not do themselves individual justice by 
being organized in a body and maintaining strict rules 
for their welfare. Every man must be the worker out 
of his own salvation with fear and trembling, more 
cognizant of the ever- watchful eye of God than of 
man. 

The greatest objection to these ascetic orders is 
founded upon their continual occupation in but one 
branch of religious life, as if, unlike other life, it had 
not various stages — one above another : we refer here 



MONkS, MftNtfONITfiS, 8HA&E&S, DtTNltfifiS, AC. 63 

to the mortification of nature, which is kept up, more or 
less, from first to last. In consideration of the long 
and severe labor which the overcoming and regulating 
of our natural desires entails, some charity can be ex- 
tended for this defect ; also when a person is so engaged 
he scarcely sees a possibility of ever resuming in the 
world an indulgence of natural affections under the ap- 
proval of the spirit ; but by strict attention to inward 
exercises, and corresponding outward observances, com- 
paratively short work is made of it. Any attempts to 
return to the things of life would, in a restricted com- 
munity, be looked upon as highly sinful, when in fact 
the goodness of Clod is resisted, and the blossoms of the 
inward work are nipped ere they expand into fruit for 
the benefit and pleasure of the worker and the world. 

Jesus undoubtedly taught that a man could not be 
his disciple unless he relinquished all his earthly loves 
and possessions ; but he also taught that, consequent 
upon this, as he became renewed into the image in 
which he was created, he should be reinstated in those 
possessions, and rule over all things as it was decreed 
at the creation. The proper place for the body of 
Christ's matured followers is therefore in the world, or 
in other words, among the evil men of the world, and 
in actual dealings with them and the things of life, and 
not with some who suppose to better themselves by 
selfishly retiring forever to themselves. This pertains 
to such as live in communities. 

A Christian is a public man from the date of his con- 
version, and all such men must be scattered about to 
season the earth, contend with their practices and prin- 
ciples against its corruptions, and receive the humilia- 



64 MONKS, MENKONITES, SHAKERS, DOTKEKS, &C. 

tion's and persecutions consequent thereupon. Jesus 
himself compared his disciples to salt or manure, — " Ye 
are the salt of the earth." If it is gathered together 
in a pile, to which some Christian orders can be com- 
pared, of what good is it to the world ? — it must be 
scattered to be of benefit. It would truly be a very 
comfortable way to attain heaven, by excluding ourselves 
from the contagious influence of evil men, and, after 
overcoming self, spend the remainder of life in blissful 
contemplation ; but no such elysium is granted man 
while there is a wide and wild world to work in. Even 
in the most private and arduous conflicts with the inner 
adversary, it is good for evil men to be cognizant of the 
work that is progressing, for it will preach more effectu- 
ally than all the studied phraseology of the pulpits. 

To those persons who think that the whole of man's 
present life must be one of an. ascetic order, we can 
recommend a recurrence to the glory of Solomon's life, 
and to some periods of David's, and to " the latter end 
of Job," and they will see that it is God's good pleasure 
to have realized the teaching of His Son, that " the meek 
shall inherit the earth." If there are a people capable of 
being the salt of the earth, in nunneries, monasteries 
and communities, how beneficial would be their disper- 
sion among the rank outgrowth of sinners. 

While wishing to see an end to certain mortifications, 
self-denials and continuous comparative solitude, we are 
very far from inferring that self-denial and watchfulness 
are not the accompaniments of the Christian under all 
dispensations to the day of his death. There are, more- 
over, other than bodily self-denials, which are unnecessary 
to be explained to persons not advanced in religious life ; 



MONKS, MENNONITES, SHAKERS, DUNKERS, &C. 65 

but as the daily cross is laid on the babe, 'so does its pres- 
sure preserve in life the man matured. Let all those in- 
clined toward the selfishness and indolence of a con- 
tinuous secluded life, remember the prayer of Jesus : " I 
pray not that they should be taken out of the world, but 
that they should be kept from the evil." 



THE FAILURES OF REFORMERS. 



Every now and then some reformed process is sub- 
mitted to the public for an approval and acceptance; 
but their weakness is soon apparent, and the originators, 
after a time, state that they hope for and predict the 
rising of something new, that will glean the good from 
all fields and raise up a people in the paths of wisdom 
and virtue. 

Without laying the axe at the root of man's evil pro- 
pensities, it is in vain to start or hope for anything that 
may bring better results. All kinds of moral reform, 
instead of being started outside of man, must have its 
origin at the fountain from which every motive to human 
action proceeds — the heart, or the mind. In using the 
word heart it must be understood to be a central power 
from which, generally considered, life proceeds ; viewed 
in this sense it is appropriate ; but properly speaking, 
the motives to human action originate and proceed from 
the various operations of the mind, which is the in- 
visible occupant of the visible brain. 

Agitators are not reformers. There are men and 
women whose peculiar organizations enable them to ex- 
cite an emotional agitation and draw vast crowds to hear 
them, from the fact that natural curiosity always seeks 
some new thing ; but at best a temporary play upon 
the emotions is produced, and, however sincere it be rep- 
resented, will soon disappear after a few rubs with the 



THE FAILURES OF REFORMERS. 67 

pleasures or business of the world. Opposition and 
persecution are the attendants of reformers ; but the 
softness with which emotional agitators are greeted, 
weighs evenly with their abilities and their cause. 

Many religious reformers, and religious denominations 
which are the offspring of their creation, have taken 
piecemeal portions of Scripture and based their faith 
and practice thereon, without being able to grasp in a 
generous whole the great variety of principles embraced 
therein ; consequently, sects have arisen, and still exist, 
wholly at variance with each other, and all professing to 
seek heaven in their Babel-like confusion. How recon- 
cilable they might be if their founders had been men 
experienced in the whole process of regeneration, and 
how wise and orderly would have been the systems they 
delivered to men ; contrary to this, nothing upon the 
face of the earth has been so variously estimated, and 
produced such confusion, war, and bloodshed as the 
various perverted religions professedly founded upon the 
peaceable teachings of Jesus. Infidels and atheists are 
often heard to deride the Christian religion on this 
account ; but they could better word their attacks upon 
the numerous apostate professors who have no part in 
the truth as it is in Jesus, or the small and faithful band 
who have existed in every age of the world, though un- 
known among men. 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 

Among the few who have written works on practical 
inward religion, we can reckon Thomas a Kempis, a 
German monk, who was born in the year 1380, and 
died in 1471, and whose record is too well known to 
need any eulogy. 

Notwithstanding the high regard in which he is held 
by numerous sects save his own, we find little in his 
works that can be interpreted as descriptive of much 
beyond the rudiments, as they may be called, of practical 
religion. It is probable that his thorough acquisition of 
the rudiments justly entitled him to . additional 
liberty in life, but that the community to which he be- 
longed, not understanding the nature of the progress 
called for in religious, as in other matters, prevented a 
realization of much that a beneficent Providence may 
have had in store, and that, surrounded by such mists, 
he scarcely saw or hoped for aught else beyond. Con- 
sequently we see him, as one from youth to age, tugging 
at the rudiments, like a child who, when its time for 
crawling had passed, was confined where room was not 
allowed for the proper development of its youth and 
manhood. 

It is not pretended to say, however, but that a great 
amount of good has been done by his book, entitled, 
11 The Imitation of Christ," nor to doubt but that heaven, 
notwithstanding his depressing surroundings, has recog- 
nized him as a most worthy candidate for immortal joy. 



LEARNING OF JESUS. 



Learning the Bible by memory, or such parts of it as 
relate especially to Jesus, is what the world calls obey- 
ing the injunction " Learn of me." By the same 
unnatural process of memorizing, which they use six 
days in the week to learn of the things of the world, 
the best of them generously deyote a portion of one day 
out of seven to learn of Jesus ; as if by such means, 
and in such a trivial portion of time, they could learn 
of Him whose ways and wisdom while on earth were 
opposed to every man-made theory. 

To learn of Jesus is a business or an education of 
itself ; it is a matter of thought and experience, re- 
quiring time and attention, and making all other pur- 
suits succumb and be subservient to the one great object. 
It is a denying of one's self ; it is a daily taking up of 
the cross ; it is being baptized into the sorrows and 
sufferings of Jesus in such proportion as our ability 
admits ; it is making a business of religion : the school- 
boy, instead of straining his memory to remember lessons, 
will be remembering his Creator in the days of his youth ; 
and the merchant, whose efforts are for worldly accu- 
mulations, will be laying up treasure of the self he has 
overcome in heaven. 

Those learn of Jesus who learn of him practically, 
that is, in obedience to his inward teachings, and who 
hold continual communication with his spirit by incessant 
inward prayer ; these learn of him not only as he lived 



70 LEARNING OF JESUS. 

in the days of his flesh, but as he exists in spirit and in 
truth in men and things at the present time. 

As Jesus is the power of all things, we do, in learn- 
ing of him, learn of all things ; and in thereby seeking 
first the kingdom of heaven, have, without much addi- 
tional labor, all necessary things added unto us. Infidels 
may think it a great piece of egotism in one teaching 
others to learn of him ; especially when he represents 
himself as the embodiment of all that is worth learning ; 
but we, as Christians or followers of him, can base the 
principles on which we accept his teachings and our 
practice, with that of many philosophers and their fol- 
lowers, whom infidels very often are. 

Inferior minds in every age of the world have always 
respected and obeyed the instructions of such superiors 
as they preferred ; philosophers have led the minds of 
people, generals have led soldiers, and others have led 
others, and countless deaths and sufferings have marked 
the leadership of most ; thus proving conclusively that 
all men are not equal in point of endowments, and the 
many who are weak seek to mass themselves under the 
leadership of one who is strong. So Christians in accor- 
dance with precisely the same principles, see in Jesus 
the possessor of qualities in such an eminent degree, 
as to make them fearlessly enlist under his banner, with 
him as the Captain of their salvation. This is recognizing 
Jesus as a living leader of the past ; and those of this 
day who have never seen him in the flesh, are aware, 
through history, that he lived, and are cognizant by his 
spiritual presence of his continued promised aid. In 
these two respects also, we of the present know of the 
lives of Caesar, Plato and Virgil ; and upon reading of 
them, feel the action of their spirits upon our spirits, 



LEARNING OF JESUS. 71 

producing in us various incentives upon precisely the 
same principle as does reading the life of Jesus. The 
exception in favor of Jesus is, that he was more fully 
developed bj^ his spiritual life than the others, and thereby 
susceptible of exerting to all future time a more power- 
ful influence upon his followers. 

If we had never heard of Jesus through books or 
hearsay, and there had been such a being upon earth, 
the embodiment of all that is Godlike and perfect, we 
would, in following the Godlike principle within us, be 
as equally following him, or partaking of his nature, as 
we now do, although ignorant of him in name. Like- 
wise we could incite ourselves to deeds of war, and par- 
take of the nature of Caesar ; likewise we could reflect 
upon the immortality of the soul, and partake of the 
nature of Plato ; likewise we could commune with the 
imaginary Muses, and partake of the nature of Virgil ; 
although having never heard of any of these, we would 
in doing such acts, derive aid from the same source that 
succored them : and of course upon being acquainted 
with them through history, and the great attainment 
made in their respective vocations, we naturally and 
justly enough call ourselves followers of their views. 

Thus, whether Christian or heathen, the principle is 
the same precisely ; and if Plato, Socrates and Mahomet 
embodied as full a representation of God made manifest 
in the flesh, or if it is preferred, as full a representation 
of a perfect man as Jesus, they would be entitled to an 
equal consideration. Jesus, however, has been the only 
perfect representation of that image from which man 
originally was fashioned, and consequently we, who are 
his followers, find in him a sufficiency for our wisdom, 
sanctification and redemption. 



A LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF THE 
SCRIPTURES. 



Jesus said among other things, that if our hands 
offend us, we should cut them off and cast thenf from 
us. Now the world asks if a literal interpretation of 
other portions of Scripture be accepted, why not accept 
this ? We reply, that in the process of subduing evil 
propensities, some of a very obstinate nature, being 
deeply rooted in our being, will not be overcome till a 
real resignation to cutting off or plucking out be ex- 
perienced. To the distressed and harassed subject no 
subjection will seem possible while the offending mem- 
bers retain connection with the body, and their sever- 
ance will seem as the only means by which relief can 
be afforded. Whole days and months may perhaps be 
passed in a readiness to dissever, rather than incur con- 
tinued trouble from their connection. Sincere and 
earnest minds feel no timidity or compunction about 
performing such feats, were they necessary ; and some, 
rather too hastily, have, even in this day, severed their 
members. 

It is the nature of the religious to do nothing pre- 
cipitate ; a careful preparation for all things by prayer 
and watchfulness, will in this, as in some other things, 
after due time release the willing mind from a work that 
in itself considered would result in no good. It is an 
established and well known fact, that the body, though 



A LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 73 

deprived of certain of its members, still retains the 
mental susceptibility of their connection ; and conse- 
quently any evil propensity connected with the mem- 
bers would be in no way diminished by their severance, 
as the mind would still continue lusting. Hence, while 
such things are not to be literally realized, it remains 
for the devotee to pass through their ordeal ; and no 
one who does, will dispute but that a more painful duty 
has been accomplished, and as seeming a reality wit- 
nessed as if blood had been spilt. 

If anything can be charged to the few who have 
severed their members, and in some instances lost their 
lives thereby, it would be more of a sin against patience 
and watchfulness than anything else. Hence attention 
to the practice of these virtues cannot be too strongly 
impressed, and especially at seasons when the severity 
of inward conflicts requires them. Such is the scarcity 
of efficient advisers in religion, that every man has to 
be a law unto himself, and take at all hazards the or- 
dained means for knowing and performing it. If the 
numerous ministers or professed teachers of religion 
were able from experienced standpoints to instruct in 
such matters, instead of pandering to the vanity of their 
hearers, a correct understanding of matters would be 
more general, and deplorable occurrences avoided. As 
it is, there are few of them, and it is not likely, under 
any circumstances, that a very great number will accept 
the narrow way that leads amid such dangers and in- 
tricacies. 

In everything that is undertaken upon earth, mis- 
takes and accidents will happen, and no. exemption can 

be claimed in a cause daily realizing fierce conflicts and 
10 



74 A LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

dangerous temptations. Because some fall purposely 
and some accidentally, it does not argue a weak cause 
by proving that God's grace is not sufficient to sustain 
through all things ; but it rather proves the necessity 
of availing of every means of watchfulness and prayer 
for preservation. 



BEGINNING A RELIGIOUS LIFE. 



There are various incitements to begin a pious life, all 
of which it is unnecessary to describe. We will now 
suppose that a person has long been disregarding the 
operations of conscience, and stands in a maze of the 
intricacies and miseries resulting therefrom. In this 
situation he might pray that the God of all things would 
in love direct him to discover and act upon his holy will 
concerning him. The earnest prayer of a righteously- 
inclined man avails much, and by listening in his prayer- 
ful moments for a manifestation of God's will, he would 
shortly be instructed. The instructions acted upon, 
would place him in harmony with those things around 
him upon which he acted, and a spontaneous love would 
be engendered in his bosom, which would be called the 
love of God shed abroad in the heart. 

It is impossible for a stranger to minutely inform 
another as to the paths he will be obliged to walk in ; 
but as most men have been trained to believe in certain 
forms of religion (whose merits will not now be discussed), 
and in certain good deeds as necessary for good 
men, it may be obligatory upon him to undertake such 
of these as he considers worthy of practice for an initia- 
tory step, or an exercise in obedience, however illy 
prepared his affections are for bearing a strictly proper 
relation to them. These things being initiatory, it is to 
be expected that " he who is faithful over little shall be 



76 BEGINNING A EELIGIOUS LIFE. 

made ruler over more," not of worldly goods in this 
connection, but of piety and peace — the attainments 
which he seeks. 

Church-going, alms-giving, honesty and sobriety may 
be among the attendant duties of this period ; church- 
going to a person in membership, while non-members 
have no need to consider membership or attendance 
essential ; as in a little further progress the vested 
guardians of the churches will be found the greatest 
obstacles to inward progress — in the words of Jesus, 
" they will turn you out of their synagogues." 



EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 



Supposing a person has inclined toward and begun a 
religious life, as delineated in the preceding chapter, he 
will soon feel the necessity of retiring for the purpose of 
communing with his conscience in regard to the affairs 
of his life. Not having become accustomed to heed the 
admonitions of conscience, and being encumbered with 
a multiplicity of duties, he will find it impossible to 
hear the good monitor amid the bustle of business, and 
special seasons must be devoted for the purpose. At 
such times prayer can be made expressive of the neces- 
sities and the loncnno-s of the offerer. Time that had 
heretofore been spent in unprofitable conversation and 
certain pleasurable duties in his family, can now be de- 
voted to prayer; he will thus begin to "redeem the 
time" lost, and will, upon each of these occasions, return 
to his necessary business refreshed. His family may be- 
gin to think strange of his leaving their company, and 
their remarks about him and to him may not be as 
pleasant as before ; but thinking that, like most persons 
drawn into the ephemeral revivals of the day, he will 
soon get over it, they laugh or frown, and hope for better 
prospects soon. 

If faithfulness is maintained, it will soon be per- 
ceived, however, that he is soberly in earnest in an 
earnest cause, and that they will have to begin their per- 
suasions to return him, or at least to prevent him from 



78 EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 

going too far and overdoing a good thing; for, think 
they, a little virtue is a valuable thing. Reading the 
teachings of Jesus, he finds that a man cannot be 
his disciple unless he forsake family, friends, and all 
worldly possessions, and take up a cross and follow him, 
and also bear persecution. After thus reading what 
corroborates his inward convictions, some old friend will 
come along and tell him that he is doing himself and his 
family a great injustice by neglecting them for purposes 
of prayer, and is forgetting that goodness, which he is 
wishing for, begins at home ; that if he cannot love his 
family, he certainly cannot love God who gave them to 
him. This will stagger him, and he will tell what he 
read of Jesus' plan. He will then be told that Jesus 
never intended those sayings to be literally realized : he 
might have designed them for the few whom he wanted 
to accompany him on his preaching tour in the days he 
lived, but such things are not at all applicable at the 
present day. 

Thus with conscience and the Bible as corroborative, 
on the one hand, and these tempting friends on the other, 
and necessary business in addition, he feels indeed under 
a heavy pressure ; something must be done or the newly 
accepted life will be choked out by persecution and the 
cares of this life. Every possible minute must be availed 
of for prayer and watching ; so he quits going to church, 
as the most strenuous opposers to his course, he finds, 
are those who pervert the Scriptures and belong to the 
church, and on Sunday takes his Bible and walks to a 
neighboring wood, therein silence and solitude to reflect 
over and pray for power to resist his besetments. 

Reading of instances where the Saviour and his dis- 



EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 79 

ciples fasted and prayed, he feels, that as he does no 
work on Sunday he can remain in solitude all day with- 
out dinner. The breath of God seems to breathe through 
the trees in the wind, the birds are sweeter in their songs 
than his children in the village choir, and the vaulted 
arch of heaven seeming like the unfathomable eternity, 
all impress him in his troubles that God is better than 
the people of the world, and his love more pleasurable, 
and his power for performing the redeeming work in a 
sinner indisputable. 

In reverting to the accumulated evils of his life, his 
spontaneous prayer is, " Good Lord have mercy upon 
me," and in thinking of the tempting people around him, 
" Good Lord deliver me." The entire day is spent in 
enjoying God as he appears in nature and in contem- 
plation of him, and in the evening he returns home in- 
wardly refreshed, but bearing no semblance of happiness 
to his family, who greet him with censures for his absence 
and estrangement. 

The minister of the village church arrives in the 
evening, and becoming aware of the husband's, or store- 
keeper's preferments, is ushered into his presence, to 
attempt an argument in favor of a return to what the 
Scriptures call a " wallowing in the mire." 

Minister : My dear sir, I was surprised to see that 
you were not at church to-day, and that your conduct 
toward your family is so unnatural. 

Novice : I have become acquainted with a better 
way, called the narrow and self-denying one, which it is 
my prayer to walk in. The ways of nature have to 
sometimes be disregarded to allow a realization of better 
things. 



80 EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 

Min. : But do you intend to disregard your family 
altogether ? 

Novice : My family and all other things of which I 
have had possession have been the accumulations made 
in my sinful days, which, as the Scriptures say, will have 
to be forsaken — " forsake all." 

Min. : That is a very singular declaration ; come, 
my good man, you are getting to be too much of a saint. 

Novice : It is my wish to be " born again," not of 
woman, nor of the pretended virtue in certain church 
performances, but of the spirit and its attendant ex- 
periences within me. Its first object is to gradually dis- 
place the fabric of a sinful life, and bring a new life 
afterward, in the same manner it took away the old life. 

Min. : You are laboring under a delusion in all these 
things. If you keep on in this way, I suppose we will 
hear of your leaving the good old ranks of Methodism 
and becoming a monk. 

Novice : I am resigned to any fate that may best 
facilitate my progress in the good work I have under- 
taken ; but I do not suppose it is necessary for me to be 
taken out of the world, or away from needful intercourse 
with men ; it is only from wasting time with them, 
when I can be better employed, that I would escape. 
Jesus prayed that his disciples should not be taken out 
of the world, but should be kept from the evil that is in 
the world. It is keeping from the evil that is necessary, 
and surely enough of it presents without running 
especially after it. 

Min. : The Scriptures say that we should let our 
light shine before men, but by being so seclusive you 
certainly neglect this. The people talk so much about 



EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 81 

your unpleasantness in business I think you had better 
resign it to your partner, unless you are going to do 
better. 

Novice : If people are not satisfied with my straight- 
forward manner of dealing and conversing, I cannot help 
it. I am conscious that " for every idle word men speak, 
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment ;" 
also, " the friendship of the world is enmity with God," 
and I would sooner be a friend to God than to men, who 
have never shown me the true path to virtue and hap- 
piness. I am aware that you and the founder of your 
sect, John Wesley, preach such things, but as the Scrip- 
tures declare, " You say, but do not," and " will neither 
enter into the kingdom of heaven yourselves, nor suffer 
those who would." What I call light, my friends and 
you call darkness, as your part of this conversation 
shows, and it is useless to continually cast pearls before 
swine. 

Min. : You are getting entirely off the track, my 
dear friend ; be persuaded now, by one who has made 
such matters a life-long study, to quit this unreasonable 
course — it is you that have mistaken the darkness for 
light — do anything within the bounds of reason, but 
do not think that all you interpret from the Scriptures 
is correct. The Scriptures say a man must hate his 
own life ; but you hardly do that, do you ? 

Novice : I do indeed hate above all things, my old, 

sinful nature or life ; and it is my daily prayer that God 

may renew his Holy Spirit within me ; then, as another 

passage of Scripture says, I could " love life and see 

good days." As for reason, I have nothing to do with 

it now ; conscience is my ready teacher, and the delays 
11 



82 EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 

that would result from consulting reason, together with 
the evil tendencies it would have in me at present, 
make it very unsafe for my welfare to mention it. 
Reason would soon say that I should not hate my life, 
and friends, and family ; but looking only to the present, 
it sees not that repentance calls for a relinquishing of sin- 
trained affections until they are purified. 

Min. : Then you suppose that at some time you will 
do different and better than now ? 

Novice : It may take a long time, but that of course 
is my hope. The Lord does not desire to always chas- 
tise and humble for sin. Jesus said that " there is no 
man who has left father and mother, children and lands 
for my sake, and the kingdom of heaven's sake, but 
who shall receive one hundred fold more in this life, 
with persecution, and in the world to come, life ever- 
lasting." From this it appears that I shall always be 
subject to persecution while on earth, even after receiv- 
ing any blessings that may be given me. 

Min. : After resigning all your possessions, how do 
you expect to be reinstated in them, especially while 
subject to such delusions? Now is the time for you to 
enjoy life. The earth is teeming with people and beauty 
on every side, and invites the diligent hand to partake 
of its bounty, and you, being in the prime of life, should 
not be passing these most favorable periods in such 
monastic habits. 

Novice : It is not at present any concern of mine 
how I shall be reinstated in my possessions ; my only 
wish is to obtain inward happiness and a surety of 
eternal life ; neither of which I can feel while encum- 
bered with " the lust of the flesh and the pride of life." 



EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE 83 

I am confident, however, from the recorded experience 
of Job, that such things have been and can still be 
done, to those who are willing to. submit. Job was a 
much richer man than I am, but in one calamity after 
another he was deprived of all his possessions, and his 
friends, family and servants ridiculed and persecuted 
him. 

Min. : Job was proverbial for patience under suffer- 
ing : do you expect to undergo sufferings and humilia- 
tions equal to his ? 

Novice : Whatever the requirements of my organi- 
zation may be for the regeneration and sanctification of 
my whole being, I am willing to submit to ; it is not 
for earth that the conflict is waged, but " for an eternal 
crown of glory that fades not away, forever in the 
heavens." However, if it were for nothing more than 
a life of poverty in this world, with the peace and hap- 
piness I now feel resulting from a performance of con- 
scientious duties, I would not exchange it for my former 
life, in which I felt, except when drowned by some ex- 
citement, the pangs of an evil conscience. I was in- 
deed gay enough in the presence of others, but left to 
myself, was indescribably miserable. An Apostle has 
said that " if on this earth alone we have hope in Christ, 
we are of all men the most miserable," but this miser- 
ableness, which I take to consist of the evil nature 
within us, which we have to overcome, and persecution 
without us, is with me preferable to a going back. 

Min. : I am sorry for your erring exuberance, and your 
determination to pursue such an unnatural course ; but 
I must leave you for the present, and shall pray that 
the God of all mercy may show you the errors of your 



84 EXAMPLE AND DIALOGUE. 

self-righteous ways, and the beauty of the salvation 
that he has ordained through simple faith in His Son 
Jesus Christ. Adieu ! 

The above is only a faint description of the manner 
in which a convert to practical religion will be buffeted 
by its formal professors. 



SUPPOSED UNREASONABLENESS 
EXPLAINED. 



As a life of practical, inward religion is so seldom 
witnessed, it is no wonder that its opposers, having so 
few opportunities to judge of it, are unable to come to 
proper conclusions, or apply the tenth part of the wisdom 
to the system that they daily apply to the things and 
business of life around them. " The children of this 
world are wiser in their generation than the children of 
light." 

It seems perfectly unnatural that a man with a family 
should disregard their love and attentions for the seem- 
ingly trivial purposes religion claims ; but such is the 
work of God in man, that a complete displacement of 
everything that has been obtained by the labor of his 
unregenerated faculties is necessary. " Except you be- 
come as little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of 
heaven." Thus a child-like state is called for, aud a 
growing up under the discipline of holiness that will fit 
for a realization of the things of life in accordance with 
the true laws of existence. 

Religious life is one of continual progress ; there is 
no going back or standing still while under its influence : 
persons unacquainted with this fact, think, when reading 
of forsaking all, and sundry requirements, that they are 
to be the constant attendants of life ; nothing is more 
false, however, and the opposite of what is done at the 
beginning is done as the work progresses. 



86 SUPPOSED UNREASONABLENESS EXPLAINED. 

Disputants have said that a fulfilling of the abnegating 
precepts of Jesus would entail any amount of poverty 
and degradation upon man ; as if man is to give away 
all he is asked for, and more too, and be kicked about 
by every insulter, his possessions and his character are 
soon lost. For a time, this is a fact ; no humiliation is 
too great for one who wishes the punishment of his sins 
in this life ; but let the opposers remember that such 
attributes are not a life-long matter — a few years can 
cover them. But the truth is that so few persons under- 
take this labor, and of those who do, many often make 
a balk of it in their progress, that the world has no 
chance of seeing to what conclusions it leads ; and the 
very ones whose lives should reveal the truth in its 
beauty, as well as the deformity it reveals, are the same 
ones very often that give most cause for the misunder- 
standing of the whole system. 



JESUS AND HIS LOVE. 



A mind resigning all its earthly loves does not find 
in the emanations proceeding from the mere principle of 
virtue, a sufficient figure for the reception of the love of 
its newly-forming life ; and as men can hardly class love 
with aught else than human shapes, the mind seeks 
some human shape for that purpose. Therefore, as Jesus 
ordained that he should be loved by his disciples, and as 
one possessing all the attributes that make humanity 
loveable, it is but natural that the Christian's spirit will 
feel a drawing toward Jesus, as he is imaged through 
history to the thoughts, and in favored moments realize 
a feeling as near and as dear as could be possible were 
the human form present. 

This will seem like a rather childish performance to 
that class of persons who see God in everything, and 
are able to embrace divine love in a more general and 
all-extensive manner. However, as it was the mission 
of Jesus to save sinners, and love them while they pro- 
gress toward the perfection he possessed, it is all very 
well for these children or babes in him to so enjoy him ; 
in after times, when they merge into the "glorious liberty 
of the sons of God," they will not crave recourse to their 
now wise and helping plan. 



WHAT TO DO, 



11 Let every man abide in the calling in which he is 
called," which means that whether a man be a merchant 
or a sailor at the time he undertakes a religious life, he 
need not worry himself especially about it, nor hastily 
exchange it for any other that may seem more consistent 
with religion. Some earnest minds may naturally think 
that the seclusion of a monastery or nunnery would be 
just the propagating place for the aspirant to purity and 
heaven ; and too many, it must be said, influenced by 
the inducements of a certain sect, have thus been lost 
to the world, and to the good which otherwise they 
might have contributed to it. 

A religious beginner should do the best he can in 
whatever situation he be ; and as he begins to feel his 
situation or calling inconsistent with his profession, or 
calculated to retard his progress, he should pray for an 
opening into something more suitable, and watch care- 
fully to accept it when it appears. The spiritual craving . 
of the novice who has been overburdened with worldly 
pursuits, will be for a simple occupation, where his mind 
will be more free to attend to its inward duties. Like 
everything else, the desire, after being patiently 
nourished for some time, will be gratified. Watching, 
and prayer, and patience are sure to bring about all 
things. 

Some of the various sects possessing a degree of sim- 



WHAT TO DO. 89 

plicity and sincerity, have shown a preference for such 
pursuits as seem best adapted to their profession. Thus 
the Shakers, Dunkers, Mennonites, early Quakers and 
others, have shown an inclination toward agricultural 
pursuits. Agriculture, in itself, is certainly one of the 
most noble and useful employments of man; and no occu- 
pation is more consistent with a life of practical religion. 
With labor for the hands and prayer for the mind, a person 
religiously inclined may make rapid strides in the path to 
his favorite inward goal. Nature uncontaminated by man 
surrounds him through the day, and at evening its quiet 
beauties invite him to contemplation and enjoyment. 

During the days when Jesus was upon earth, humble 
fishermen and others, in response to his call, left their 
fishing and other occupations and followed him, not 
knowing by what means their future life was to be sus- 
tained. They were, however, sufficiently provided for 
in all things pertaining to physical life. In these days 
we have no such Divine Master to follow in person ; 
but we have his inward spirit to teach us the necessity 
of forsaking all, and subsequently of obtaining all by 
the gradual process connected with inward religious life; 
by the former as total an abnegation of worldly friends 
and possessions is witnessed as in the days of old. 
Blessed, therefore, are they who, denying themselves and 
taking up a daily cross, show a faith and dependence 
similar to the fishermen of yore. Eternity and salva- 
tion demand the sacrifice ; and shall we, risking these, 
prefer a brief life amid pleasures where pain is in ex- 
cess, and among people whose friendship is influenced by 
selfishness and gold ? No ! rather should we lay up 
treasure for happiness in heaven, and make to ourselves 
friends of the riches of righteousness. 

12 



RELINQUISHING HONORABLE PURSUITS. 

As the greatness of the work which the religious has 
undertaken surpasses in true greatness anything that is 
attempted, and as it will ere long after its commencement 
require a greater amount of attention than at first, it 
will become obligatory to decline the pursuit of any 
occupation which engrosses too much time and talent. 
This is a severe offering to make on the altar of humility 
for any whose name is abroad in the land as one of its 
rulers, or most distinguished private characters, and 
shows conclusively, when made, upon which side the 
relinquisher wishes to take his stand. On this account 
there exists the known difficulty for a rich or influential 
man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

The rich can give the half of their goods to the poor, 
or even give all, provided they can turn about and make 
more by the old process, and esteem the task compara- 
tively light ; but when it comes to sapping the very 
root of their character, for the sake of replenishing it 
with another possessing considerable doubt, matters are 
too sorrowful to be accepted. Thus the poor, who have 
little to leave,, can more readily acquiesce to the terms 
for an inheritance in virtue, happiness and futurity. 

Commensurate with a man's losses are the rewards 
which, even in this life, may be vouchsafed him ; inso- 
much as whatever a man's capacities may be, they will 
be devoted in full force for another work ; and as men 



RELINQUISHING HONORABLE PURSUITS. 91 

who rise to eminence and riches are mostly superior to 
the poorer, so can they be superior to them in develop- 
ing themselves and the wisdom of God's munificent 
ways. This must not be understood as reflecting on 
the poor : " God has chosen the poor of this world rich 
in faith;" but according to the sound principles of 
wisdom, the rich men of the world must be acknowl- 
edged superior to the poor in regard to the use they have 
made of the talents committed to their trust. In fact, 
most rich men were once poor themselves, and it was 
only by battling against adversity that they rose supe- 
rior to it ; so, with the exception of the few who have 
had riches left them, we are talking to the poor all 
around. 

While a man is living in the enjoyment of the respect 
of his fellow-men, and honoring them, as they do him, 
there is no possibility of his becoming a partaker of the 
honor which is from above. A perfect poverty and 
abasement are to precede the riches and honor which 
wisdom has in store for its children ; thus not many 
wise, not many rich, and not many great are chosen as 
examples of the wisdom, riches and greatness of Him who 
created the world by his word, together with its mines 
and its men. 



FASTING. 



There is in fasting a two-fold object : one is the sub- 
jection of man's passion for eating and drinking, and the 
other is the aid it affords in discerning the truth ; as the 
faculties of the novice, when stupefied by gluttony, can- 
not possibly be in order for a spiritual work. By much 
eating, or frequently by moderate eating, the better 
faculties are stupefied and the animal desires are excited ; 
and so by one little thing, the spirit which would light 
to heaven is quenched, and the lurid flames of lust have 
fuel added to consume the soul. Thus a well-maintained 
practice of fasting is called for in all who begin a religious 
life, and are not bodily incapacitated by weakness or sick- 
ness. 

Like everything else in the economy of God, pertain- 
ing to the welfare of those who place themselves under 
his guardian care as children, fasting will be found to 
have a designated time for operation, which deprives it 
of injurious effects and eases its performance. Thus the 
season of fasting is contemporary with that of continual 
inward prayer ; and as prayer has called for a situation 
wherein the mind may be relieved of excessive worldly 
strains, there is not the attendant drain upon the system ; 
consequently less food will suffice and fasting is eased. 
Thus there is a law and order about the work of re- 
ligion as powerful and complete as in any other depart- 
ment of the creation, although its very simplicity hides 
it from the eyes of men. 



FASTING. 93 

The professedly religious world has its seasons of fast- 
ing, and when local indulgences are not granted for its 
modification, it is imposed while but slight diminution 
of excessive business or pleasure accompanies it ; hence 
the human system requires its usual supply ; but the God 
of this world eases not the heavy yoke he imposes — we 
go to Jesus alone for a yoke that is easy and a burden 
that is light. 

Fasting is seldom required among persons who have 
become sanctified : whether they eat or they drink, they 
do it all to the glory of God, who has given them a 
command and liberty to love life and see good days. 



SOLITUDE. 



" In solitude and silence the holy soul advances with 
speedy steps and learns the hidden truths of the oracles 
of God." Solitude is that which at brief intervals the 
Christian has great need of, from conversion to what- 
ever height in holiness he may attain. 

In solitude he watches, prays, communes, meditates 
and contemplates with a greater fervor than in any 
other situation. He stands alone, exposed, as he wishes 
to be, to the eye of an all-searching God, under whose 
hands he has placed himself to have renewed a right 
spirit within him. If by sin, past or present, he has 
incurred the Divine displeasure, he here acknowledges 
it and welcomes the chastisement its commission entails ; 
he waits not for a future time or a future world for the 
purpose, but thus " lets his sins go beforehand to judg- 
ment," conscious that, if he thus judges himself, or 
allows himself to be judged at the present time, he will 
not be judged hereafter for the accumulated charges of 
a life-time. This is a peculiar work for solitude, and 
being an essential one, readily shows upon what barren 
ground professing worldly Christians stand who deride 
its acceptance. 

The greatest men of the world, whose thoughts have 
resulted in unnumbered temporal benefits to mankind, 
received the germ of all their fruits in solitude ; and 
should the Christian, in a greater work than them, ne- 



SOLITUDE. 95 

gleet such an opportunity to improve himself in those 
duties whose ends are not limited by the brief length 
of a life-time ? No matter in what business or labor 
we may be placed, and rightly feel it a duty to attend 
to, there will still be daily opportunities for the enjoy- 
ments and labors of solitude. Time that would be idly 
spent in worldly amusements and unnecessary conversa- 
tions, can now be allotted to solitude ; and those who 
neglect to avail themselves of such opportunities, and 
fear to risk the censures of men for so doing, are un- 
worthy the holy cause, and if beginners, cease to pro- 
gress, and if advanced, soon measure back their steps to 
earth. 

It might be conjectured that a person endued with 
power to scatter good, which he had long and laboriously 
acquired, could justly, in behalf of his labors, resign the 
claims of solitude; but here again solitude lays claim to 
its continual assistance. Even Jesus retired from the 
midst of the multitudes to mountains and gardens for 
the purpose of enjoying and recruiting himself in soli- 
tude. Solitude is somewhat to the spirit what sleep is 
to the body — a necessary attendant while dwelling in 
these temples of clay. 



TEMPTATION. 



Of what a mighty adversary religious life would be 
relieved if temptation in its many forms was banished 
from the earth. In different form it assails the children 
who suffer themselves to come unto Jesus, and hoary 
heads found in the way of righteousness. The censure 
and ridicule of the world, although poignant at times, 
possess not the long-continued, oft-repeated discomfitures 
of temptation. Well can we pray that the Lord will 
suffer us not to be led into temptation ; we can pray 
not to be led into what it invites to, but we cannot 
rightly pray for a freedom from its enticements ; otherwise 
we would ask for a special deliverance from that to 
which all holy men were subject, including the blessed 
Jesus. 

Temptation is but the presentation of the various evil 
inclinations within us, seeking an outgrowth in action 
before sanctified by prayer. Therefore the more numer- 
ous are our temptations, and the more steadfastly we re- 
sist them, till the proper time, in so great a proportion, 
we may rest assured, are we progressing in religion. 

As all our faculties, including those men called good 
and those they call bad, have to undergo purification, it 
follows that all will have to undergo temptation ; and 
all will undergo it in various forms adapted especially to 
the subject or faculty in hand. In thus disgorging all 
the " old man," and in putting on the new, a work re- 
quiring attention through months and years is under- 
taken ; and none while undergoing it, understand the 



TEMPTATION. 97 

process by which the dross of human nature is sepa- 
rated. During the height of such inward labors, it is 
^utterly impossible for the subject to be engrossed in the 
perplexing businesses or giddy pleasures of the world — 
he has a labor far more important, and the God who 
directs it will also prepare and place him in a situation 
favorable for its pursuit. This situation, as elsewhere 
stated in this work, has been discovered by him through 
watchfulness and prayer. 

A mere glimpse at these unseen labors of the Christian 
cast into the shade, both in their efforts and results, the 
petty, dollar-grasping businesses of the world ; and would, 
were they more frequently practised, afford an oppor- 
tunity for commanding an acknowledgment of their 
greatness from the very world who disdain them. There 
is a proverb extant, to the effect that he who conquers 
himself is greater than he who conquers the world ; and 
under this covert the laboring Christian receives a laurel 
in his praise. 

Although inappropriate in a work designed for novices, 
we will terminate this work by giving a little informa- 
tion on a vital point for the benefit of any persons 
already advanced in religious life. Under the guise of 
temptation there comes to advanced persons that which 
is hard for them to understand at the time, though, like 
everything else in religious life, is easily known after- 
ward. Reference is made to the period and occurrences 
when, after being sanctified, the faculties crave a return 
to the things of earth to receive the promised " one 
hundred fold more." 

Now, after a total abandonment of things, it is indeed 
a very delicate matter to receive and enter upon duties 
connected with them under the direction of the Spirit, 

13 



98 TEMPTATION. 

instead of under man's unregenerated faculties ; hence 
their first appearance for acceptance will seem like a 
temptation : not wishing to sin, it may be some time 
before a venture to accept will be made ; during this 
time a recurrence to past experience will reveal the total 
indifference with which the things have been regarded,, 
and can continue to be, unless it be in perfect accordance 
with the will of God to have them now re- accepted. 
With the newly-inborn drawing toward them on the 
one hand, and the aversion on the other, we are equally 
prepared to refuse or accept : after the fervent prayer 
of " not my will, but thine be done," we timidly and 
slightly accept ; we next carefully watch for any out- 
ward or inward unfavorable result, with a feeling of 
ready willingness to never do so again if unlawful : we 
soon perceive a slight inward uneasiness, which is noth- 
ing more than a slight disruption caused by the sensi- 
bilities of the refined faculties coming in contact with 
the rough men and matter of earth. This is agreeable 
to the natural law of entering upon life, and must not 
be regarded as the least evidence of Divine displeasure 
at what has been done. To the sensitive mind it will 
for some time be so regarded, unless a wise instructor 
should banish the fear. During the whole of this period, 
watchfulness and prayer are particularly requisite. 

As we progress under this dispensation of acceptance, 
the early susceptibilities are worn off, and we use the 
things of this world as not abusing them, nor they us ; 
and after the duties of every day, however manifold, 
we retire with hearts as light as children's, and wrap 
the drapery of our couch around us and lie down to 
pleasant dreams. 

THE END. 



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